Chapter 181: Architectural Array

But it wasn't his fault for misjudging—it was just that this was too unusual.

Master Ban silently thought to himself.

After all, in all these years, he had mostly dealt with array masters with white hair, and he had never seen a ten-year-old boy sketching array patterns in such a large forging workshop project.

Master Ban couldn't help but murmur in amazement.

Now that there was an array master, Master Ban sighed in relief; he had nothing else to do, so he stood behind Mo Hua with Elder Yu, leaning forward to watch Mo Hua draw the array.

Elder Yu, seeing Master Ban staring intently, quietly asked, "Do you understand?"

Master Ban shook his head, "No." Then he asked, "Do you?"

Elder Yu also shook his head, "I don't understand. What are you looking at?"

"If you don't understand, why are you still watching?" Master Ban said.

Elder Yu chuckled, "I'm just curious—just watching from the side."

Master Ban silently thought: I've never seen a child this young drawing an array—I'm even more curious than you.

Master Ban glanced at Mo Hua, then at the array he was drawing, and asked softly:

"What grade is this array?"

Elder Yu wasn't sure either, so he estimated based on Mo Hua's skill: "First grade."

Master Ban was startled, exclaiming, "What?"

Elder Yu shot him a reproachful look and hushed him: "Lower your voice, don't disturb him while he's drawing."

Master Ban lowered his voice again: "What do you mean, first grade?"

"The array is first grade."

Master Ban shook his head rapidly, "Impossible!"

"Fine, don't believe me," Elder Yu said, unconcerned.

Master Ban truly didn't believe it, but he didn't think Elder Yu would lie to him; after pondering, he could only stare at the array Mo Hua was drawing.

He didn't understand arrays, but he could still count the array lines.

One, two… five—this one has only five array lines.

One, two, three… seven—this one has only seven.

Master Ban's emotions suddenly grew complicated: a ten-year-old cultivator drawing seven array lines? That was already on par with an ordinary array master's skill.

At this level, he had just casually said "only" seven… he truly had no sense of scale…

Master Ban continued counting.

Finally, in the single array Mo Hua finished and put down his brush, he counted nine array lines!

Nine lines means entered first grade!

Master Ban was deeply shaken.

"So it really is a first-grade array?"

Seeing Master Ban's stunned expression, Elder Yu secretly delighted—he had looked and sounded exactly the same when he first heard Mo Hua could draw a first-grade array, and his thoughts must have been nearly identical to Master Ban's.

Master Ban glanced at Elder Yu, his voice trembling slightly but still lowered: "So… this child… is now… a first-grade array master?"

"Not yet," Elder Yu said. "He hasn't been officially graded by the Dao Court."

"Still, that's incredible…"

Master Ban shook his head, still finding it unbelievable.

Now, as he watched Mo Hua draw the array, his feelings were not just admiration—they carried a hint of awe.

This was a first-grade array—he had never seen many array masters in his life who could draw one.

Master Ban leaned forward again, glanced at the array on the foundation stone, and couldn't help exclaiming:

"This array is drawn beautifully!"

Elder Yu said, "Aren't you supposed to not understand arrays?"

"No need to understand!" Master Ban waved his hand. "Every stroke of this array looks like it was stamped from a mold—neat, elegant. In all my years, I've never seen an array with such exquisite brushwork!"

Mo Hua was praised, and Elder Yu felt pleased inside, though he still pretended humility:

"Oh, nowhere near that—he's still a child, has much to learn."

Master Ban was lost again in the array and didn't respond.

After finishing a compound array, Mo Hua's spiritual energy and mental awareness were nearly depleted, so he put down his brush and sat on the ground to rest.

Elder Yu immediately stepped forward, his expression gentle: "Tired?"

This was the first time Master Ban had ever seen such a "gentle" expression on Elder Yu's face.

He had dealt with Elder Yu for years, always thinking of him as short-tempered, glum, rigid, and fond of cursing.

Yet now, Elder Yu looked exactly like a "kindly" old grandfather…

As if he had become an entirely different person.

Master Ban truly learned something new today.

Mo Hua was indeed a bit tired—drawing arrays on large construction materials consumed considerable spiritual power and mental awareness, but it was still within his expected limits.

"I'm fine. I'll sit and meditate for a while."

Mo Hua said—he actually wanted to meditate to recover his mental awareness using the Meditation Technique.

"Good, good, rest then, no rush."

Elder Yu spoke gently, then left Mo Hua undisturbed, instead studying the completed array, thinking: Master Ban was right—it really was neat and beautiful.

Hearing Elder Yu's words, Master Ban suddenly became alert.

Elder Yu didn't need to rush—but he did.

He pulled Elder Yu aside and whispered, "How many array masters did you hire?"

"What do you mean, a few array masters?"

"Array masters who draw architectural formations."

Elder Yu was slightly taken aback.

Master Ban paused for a moment. "It can't be just this kid Mo Hua, can it?"

Elder Yu hesitated as well. "One should be enough… right?"

Master Ban said, slightly annoyed: "How is one enough? With so many formations, how can a single kid finish drawing them all? Even if he could finish them alone, this project would drag on till the year of the monkey and the month of the horse…"

Such a large refining shop, with so many craftsmen — how could they afford to let it drag on…

Elder Yu stroked his beard, and couldn't help frowning.

He hadn't really thought this matter through carefully. In any case, handing the formations over to Mo Hua had always put his mind at ease.

Even if he wasn't at ease, it wouldn't help — he didn't understand formations anyway.

But Master Ban had a point too. The formations on the architectural array diagrams were densely packed, countless in number; whether this kid Mo Hua alone could finish drawing them all was uncertain.

Drawing too many would drain his divine sense, and damaging his sea of consciousness would be bad.

Elder Yu was a little worried — the refining shop's progress could be slow, but Mo Hua absolutely couldn't be worn out.

But then Elder Yu thought again: in general, when it came to formation-related matters, Mo Hua always considered everything thoroughly. If he hadn't said anything, then there probably wasn't any problem.

Elder Yu asked Master Ban: "Generally, for this many formations, how many array masters would it take to finish drawing them?"

"At least five or six, at most ten or so."

Elder Yu was startled. "That many?"

Master Ban couldn't help rolling his eyes at him. "What did you think? Architectural formations contain massive amounts of array patterns — how could one or two array masters possibly finish drawing them?"

Elder Yu's old face flushed red. Fortunately his face was dark, so it didn't show.

He truly didn't know about these things.

Before, the demon hunters had been very poor — where would they get spirit stones to build a large refining shop like this? Being able to build a few rooms was already considered good, and there was no need for any formations.

Now that they'd made a windfall, they thought about building a refining shop, so that the loose cultivators at the bottom could have better lives. Otherwise, even now, he still wouldn't have known that architectural formations were such a thorny matter.

If it weren't for Mo Hua, hiring array masters would probably cost a huge sum of spirit stones.

Once the refining shop and the alchemy shop were built and started operating at a profit, they definitely had to give Mo Hua a bigger share of the spirit stones.

Elder Yu thought to himself.