Chapter 166

The next day, Qian Hong met with Elder Yu.

Mo Hua peeked out from the mine tunnel and stole a glance—he recognized Qian Hong at once.

Qian Hong was Qian Xing's father; Qian Xing had been blown up by Mo Hua using the Earth-Fire Array. Mo Hua knew Qian Xing's face, and since father and son resembled each other, Qian Hong was easy to identify.

Besides, even without looking at faces, the only two Foundation Establishment cultivators in the Qian clan were instantly recognizable.

Qian Zhongxuan stood beside Qian Hong; though both were Foundation Establishment cultivators, Qian Hong clearly carried greater presence.

Qian Zhongxuan merely had deep nasolabial folds and looked stern, but his aura of authority fell far short of Qian Hong, the Qian clan's patriarch who held the Gao Wei position.

Mo Hua curiously asked, "Elder, why do you call Qian Hong 'old turtle'?"

At least on the surface, Qian Hong appeared proud and handsome, with an air of distinction.

Elder Yu said, "You want to know?"

Mo Hua nodded.

"Alright, watch later."

Watch? Watch what?

Mo Hua didn't quite understand.

After a while, the two sides faced off. Elder Yu planted his blade, stance firm, at the cave entrance on the mountainside, and began yelling directly at Qian Hong and Qian Zhongxuan.

He cursed them from head to toe.

Qian Zhongxuan trembled with rage, but Qian Hong remained expressionless, as if he hadn't heard a word.

When Elder Yu grew tired, he stopped to rest and said to Mo Hua, "Understand now?"

Mo Hua nodded in awe:

"Truly an 'old turtle'—he's incredibly patient!"

Even after being cursed like that, he didn't change expression, didn't utter a sound, not even a single eyebrow twitched.

"Call it shrewdness if you're kind," Elder Yu said, "or call it shameless if you're blunt."

Mo Hua added, "Elder, won't provoking him like this be problematic?"

Elder Yu sneered, "Whether I provoke him or not makes no difference—he's ruthless when there's profit to be had. Don't think avoiding him will make him merciful."

Mo Hua nodded and asked, "Are we going to fight them next?"

Elder Yu sighed, "Best not to fight—we've been fighting too long, exhausted from prolonged combat, while they keep rotating fresh troops. Another direct clash would disadvantage us. Besides, our food and healing pills are running low."

"Should we run?"

"Yes."

"How? There are too many Qian clan cultivators now—we can't slip away easily," Mo Hua frowned.

"Originally, I planned to defeat the Qian clan and openly transport the spirit ore out. But now the Qian clan's cultivators swarm like locusts, wave after wave, and even Qian Hong, the old turtle, has come in person—this plan won't work anymore."

Elder Yu said, "Our only option is to dig another tunnel and slip away quietly."

Mo Hua paused. "Another tunnel? Is there time to dig one now?"

Elder Yu sighed. "Hard to say—we must hold the cave entrance as long as possible to buy time."

Mo Hua nodded, but felt it wouldn't be easy to hold.

The mine tunnel was indeed hard to defend.

After that, the Qian clan launched irregular attacks daily—neither greedy for glory nor lingering in battle, merely wearing down the Hunter's resolve.

They also kept the Hunters pinned down, preventing any other moves.

Elder Yu had to assign people to defend the entrance, mine the spirit ore, and dig a new escape tunnel—all at once.

He was overwhelmed.

Mo Hua was also troubled, but had no better solution.

One day, Elder Yu suddenly found Mo Hua and asked helplessly, "Mo Hua, is there any array that can seal off the mine tunnel?"

Since they couldn't hold it, better to seal it completely—then the Qian clan couldn't enter, and they could escape through the new tunnel.

"Seal it entirely?"

"Just leave one or two openings."

Mo Hua thought for a moment, eyes lighting up: "Yes!"

He recalled an array from Master Zhuang's array manual—one that reinforced earth and stone to seal cave entrances.

Elder Yu perked up. "Can you draw it now?"

"No," Mo Hua shook his head. "I haven't learned it yet."

Elder Yu sighed. "Then I'll have everyone hold on a bit longer—you start learning now. No rush…"

But Elder Yu was truly desperate.

Short term was manageable, but prolonged stalemate with the Qian clan was torture each day—they had supplies and reinforcements; we didn't.

Yet Elder Yu didn't want to burden Mo Hua—he'd already helped too much.

Elder Yu knew arrays weren't easy to learn; many array masters took ten days or even half a month to master one. That's why array masters were so rare.

Elder Yu hesitated inside.

How long would Mo Hua need to learn this array? If it took ten days or half a month, they might not hold out—they'd need another plan.

Elder Yu rose to leave, but couldn't resist whispering:

"Mo Hua, I'm not pressuring you—I'm just asking, how long will it take you to learn this array?"

Mo Hua thought, then carefully replied:

"If fast, tomorrow morning. If slow, the morning after."

It wasn't a rare Grade-One array; Mo Hua was learning quickly—memorizing the array patterns by day, practicing on the Dao Stele at night. One night wasn't enough? Two nights would suffice.

Elder Yu opened his mouth.

He felt all his earlier scheming had been unnecessary, his emotions swinging wildly, his expression now complicated: "You array masters learn arrays this fast…?"

Mo Hua chuckled. "It's not all that."

"Then it's just that this child Mo Hua learns quickly…" Elder Yu glanced at Mo Hua, silently thinking to himself.

Regardless, tomorrow or the day after, the time will be sufficient.

Elder Yu exhaled in relief. "Then take your time learning—I won't disturb you." He walked off, his expression relaxed.

Mo Hua opened the Thousand Array Scrolls and flipped through until he found an array: an array containing nine earth-element array markings, named the First-Rank Earth-Stone Array.

The Earth-Stone Array is one type of First-Rank earth-element array, capable of fusing earth and stone together to make them harder.

The array markings weren't difficult; Mo Hua glanced at them a few times and memorized the general form. The sky was still early, hours away from midnight.

Only at midnight could Mo Hua enter his mind sea and practice arrays on the Dao Stele.

"What should I do now?"

Mo Hua propped his chin on his hand, thinking.

He had already memorized the array markings; looking at them more wouldn't change anything.

Mo Hua pulled out paper and brush, deciding to sketch the First-Rank Earth-Stone Array a few times on paper first.

Normally, Mo Hua practiced arrays by first mastering them on the Dao Stele, then transferring them to paper—to avoid wasting paper and ink.

But now, it didn't seem to matter much about the paper and ink.

Mo Hua began drawing the First-Rank Earth-Stone Array directly on paper.

As expected, his first attempt failed.

Mo Hua felt a pang of regret, but not much sorrow—he had saved over a thousand vials of demon blood; his spirit ink was plentiful.

He began the second sketch. It failed too.

The third attempt failed again.

Mo Hua summarized his mistakes, steadied his mindset, and kept drawing—until, gradually, he found he had succeeded effortlessly…

He tried channeling a bit of spiritual energy into it; the array markings glowed, emitting a faint gray light.

So it worked?

Mo Hua was briefly delighted, then felt… strangely dull.

He had planned to spend the whole night practicing the Earth-Stone Array, yet before midnight even arrived, he had already mastered it.

"Then what should I learn tonight?"

Mo Hua scratched his head, flipped through the messy pile of array books beside him, and accidentally spotted an array:

First-Rank Earth-Wood Composite Array.