Chapter 176: Planning

Everything is ready—could they really open their own forging and pill-making shops?

Elder Yu was uncertain.

Mo Hua looked at Elder Yu and said, "Elder Yu, these spirit stones will only last everyone ten years—what then after ten years?"

Elder Yu furrowed his brow.

He had considered Mo Hua's point, but after much thought, he found no good solution.

The life of a beast hunter was already hard enough; having ten years of respite, with no worries over food or clothing and peace to cultivate, Elder Yu was already satisfied.

All he could do was this much.

But Mo Hua's words now stirred Elder Yu's emotions.

Perhaps their good days could truly last longer?

Elder Yu carefully reviewed his thoughts again and grew even more convinced that Mo Hua's suggestion was feasible.

In the past, they lacked both spirit stones and array masters capable of drawing arrays, so they had never even considered this path.

But now they had spirit stones, and they had a young, gifted array master—what was left to worry about?

Elder Yu suddenly felt his blood boil.

This was the fate Heaven had granted these impoverished cultivation sectless!

If they failed to seize this fleeting opportunity, they would surely regret it for the rest of their lives!

"Mo Hua," Elder Yu looked at him solemnly, "you're right, but this matter is of great consequence—I must first consult the others before deciding how to proceed."

Mo Hua nodded.

He had merely offered a suggestion; whether to act, and how, still rested with Elder Yu.

Yet in the beast hunter community, Elder Yu's word was law; if he agreed, success was nearly certain—the meeting would likely be nothing more than a formality.

"There's one more thing," Elder Yu mused, "if we build a forging shop and a pill-making shop, we'll need large forging furnaces and pill furnaces—what about the arrays within them…"

Mo Hua patted his chest. "Don't worry—leave it to me!"

To Mo Hua, this was a free chance to practice array drawing—and on large spirit artifacts, no less; he was eager for it.

Large spirit artifacts required enormous resources and were beyond the reach of ordinary cultivators to forge.

If he could draw arrays on these large spirit artifacts, his understanding of arrays would rise to a new level.

Aside from lacking Dao Ting Si's official ranking, Mo Hua's skill already equaled that of a First-Rank Array Master.

But for Mo Hua, First-Rank was not an end—it was a beginning; he would one day become a higher-ranked array master, mastering even greater and more powerful arrays!

Through arrays, to wield power that could pierce heaven and earth!

As Mo Hua thought this, his eyes gleamed brilliantly, like starlight.

Elder Yu looked at Mo Hua and felt that, at this moment, the boy standing before him was more valuable to their beast hunters than the entire warehouse's glittering spirit stones.

Elder Yu returned and gathered everyone to discuss the establishment of the forging and pill-making shops, and declared bluntly:

"I've already agreed."

Everyone silently grumbled inside.

You've already agreed—what's left to say… who would dare oppose you?

Elder Yu didn't waste time; he continued directly: "Now, let's discuss exactly how to proceed."

Everyone began offering opinions, exchanging and debating ideas.

After a full half-day, they finally settled on the general framework.

Elder Yu reviewed the plan again and found no major flaws—only minor details needed further refinement, but nothing that affected the overall direction.

After the decision, Elder Yu acted swiftly, immediately assigning roles: who did what, how much time each task required—all meticulously divided.

Finally, Elder Yu solemnly added: "This matter concerns every household of sectless cultivators in Xiancheng—it's of vital importance. Every task must be done with meticulous care and absolute diligence—no negligence allowed!"

Everyone's expressions turned solemn; they bowed and replied, "Yes."

From then on, the beast hunters of Xiancheng gradually grew busy.

Elder Yu's vision was to build the largest forging and pill-making shops in Xiancheng.

Beast hunters would enter the mountains to hunt beasts and gather materials; sectless cultivators who were forgers would forge spirit artifacts, those who were pill-makers would brew pills; the resulting spirit artifacts and pills would be used partly by the beast hunters themselves and partly sold to earn spirit stones.

Such large forging and pill-making shops would require many forgers and pill-makers, as well as many apprentices learning these crafts, providing numerous livelihood opportunities for the beast hunters.

Some sectless cultivators, who were not skilled in fighting beasts, could not become beast hunters—yet they could learn forging or pill-making within the shops and earn their own living. Once they mastered their skills and rose to prominence, they could also benefit other sectless cultivators.

The specific construction procedures were numerous and complex; these were handled entirely by Elder Yu and the lead beast hunters—Mo Hua had no need to worry about them, nor could he assist.

All he could do was draw arrays.

The construction of the large forging and pill-making shops required two major categories of arrays: one for the buildings themselves, and another for the furnace fire arrays of the forging and pill furnaces.

The first priority was the building arrays.

In Elder Yu's plan, all construction would proceed in two phases: the first phase would build the forging shop, the second phase the pill-making shop.

Compared to pill-makers, there were far more forgers among the sectless, and the demand for spirit artifacts was high with no shortage of buyers—so manpower and resources must be concentrated to build the forging shop well.

After the forging shop was completed, the pill-making shop would be built using roughly the same framework; with experience gained, construction would be much faster.

Mo Hua's first task was to design the building arrays for the forging shop.

The forging shop would occupy a vast area, with many related structures: walls, gates, various storage rooms, forging chambers, cultivators' living quarters, and storage halls.

The exact location was still under negotiation with Dao Ting Si, but the architectural planning had to be prepared in advance.

Elder Yu had also obtained other forging shop blueprints for Mo Hua to reference.

But these blueprints were either too small and used few arrays, or even if they used arrays, they were only basic designs with three or four array lines—like the Solid Earth Array and Jin Shi Array that Mo Hua had learned as a beginner.

Mo Hua's horizons had broadened; he no longer found them impressive.

Some blueprints used many arrays, but they were disorganized and lacked coherence, offering no real value.

Others were vague—likely to conceal core arrays—and thus were deliberately obscured, revealing nothing.

He had originally thought there would be deep intricacies here, but he found that everyone's methods were quite rudimentary; comparatively, the An family's architectural array technique, though riddled with flaws, was already quite impressive.

Mo Hua glanced briefly at these simple designs, gained a general sense of them, and began drafting his own.

Since the arrays used here were not so elaborate, Mo Hua felt no psychological burden.

He could now draw a Grade-One array; even if he drew it carelessly, its effect would not be worse than the arrays used in other constructions.