Chapter 194: Grade-One Molten Fire

Mr. Feng and Master Chen both agreed, so Mo Hua told Elder Yu about it.

Elder Yu was slightly surprised, "Mr. Feng agreed too?"

Although Mr. Feng had only reached Qi Refinement ninth layer, he was a Grade-One Alchemist who ran an alchemy hall in Xiancheng; over the years he had healed countless patients and possessed extensive connections, commanding great prestige among cultivators.

Elder Yu had previously paid him a special visit and subtly broached the matter, but Mr. Feng had politely refused, citing "old age, fatigue, and inability to endure labor."

He never expected Mr. Feng would now agree.

With Mr. Feng's alchemical expertise and deep connections, the alchemy hall's alchemists would no longer be a problem.

Elder Yu grew curious, "How did you convince them?"

Mo Hua frowned, "I didn't say much—this is a good thing for everyone, so Grandpa Feng and Master Chen wouldn't usually refuse."

They didn't refuse you, but they refused me…

Elder Yu studied Mo Hua again, sighing inwardly.

This child Mo Hua's influence seems greater than my own as a Foundation Establishment elder…

Mo Hua turned to the matter at hand, "Elder Yu, where's the smelting furnace you bought?"

"It's on the way; it'll arrive in a few days."

Xiancheng does have smelting furnaces for sale, but none of Grade-One; even if a few shops wanted to sell, Elder Yu had inquired, but out of fear of the Qian family's power, none dared to offer one.

Elder Yu had no choice but to use his connections to buy a new Grade-One smelting furnace from the neighboring Xiancheng.

"It won't be stolen, will it?" Mo Hua worried.

"Payment upon delivery—if stolen, it's none of our concern. I won't give them any Spirit Stones until I see the furnace arrive right at the door of this forging hall."

Mo Hua nodded.

No wonder Elder Yu—he never acts without certainty, never throws the net before seeing the rabbit.

It's a good habit; Mo Hua felt he should learn it well.

"What about the array on the smelting furnace… is that fine?" Elder Yu asked again.

Mo Hua patted his chest, "Don't worry, I've got it covered—I haven't learned it yet, but I'll get it soon."

Learn it now…

Elder Yu's emotions were complex; if another array master were learning the array at the last minute, he might feel uneasy. But since it was Mo Hua learning it now, Elder Yu had nothing to say.

"When the furnace arrives, I'll let you know."

"Mm-hmm." Mo Hua nodded.

For the rest of the time, Mo Hua devoted himself to learning the Grade-One Molten Fire Array.

Meanwhile, Master Qian arrived at the study and met the clan head, Qian Hong.

Master Qian's face was slightly pale, his expression weary, yet his spirit was sharp, and his eyes gleamed with excitement.

"Clan Head, after days of intense study, I have fully mastered the Grade-One Molten Fire Array!"

Qian Hong raised his eyebrows, his face lighting up with joy, "Thank you, Master Qian—I'll immediately order the clan's Grade-One smelting furnace cleared out, the original array erased, and have you personally inscribe the Grade-One Molten Fire Array."

Qian Hong bowed, "This matter is entrusted to you, Master."

"Naturally."

Qian Hong exhaled in relief, "With this, we can seize the initiative."

The Hunter's Forge had been built smoothly, everything else was advancing rapidly, and Elder Yu had even purchased a Grade-One smelting furnace from afar—all of this weighed heavily on Qian Hong.

Forging heavily depends on the smelting furnace.

As long as our furnace is superior to the Hunters', and our array stronger, the spiritual weapons we forge will be of higher quality and greater quantity.

Then Elder Yu's attempt to compete with our Qian family would be pure fantasy.

As long as Elder Yu's forge runs at a loss, its collapse is only a matter of time—then I'll swallow it whole.

All Elder Yu's hard work will merely be sewing buttons for our Qian family.

Qian Hong ran through his calculations and realized the only wildcard remained the array.

In nearly all Daoist industries, core arrays are crucial.

Qian Hong still felt uneasy and confirmed again, "Could any of the Hunters' array masters possibly know the Grade-One Molten Fire Array?"

Master Qian waved his hand, "Clan Head, rest assured—it's impossible!"

Qian Hong looked puzzled, "Why are you so certain?"

Master Qian smiled calmly, "Before I learned the Molten Fire Array, I couldn't be so certain—but now that I've mastered it, I understand. This array is extremely difficult; no ordinary array master can learn it!"

Qian Hong frowned, "Is it truly that hard?"

"Clan Head, you're not an array master—you don't understand the difficulty."

Master Qian explained, "The Molten Fire Array's array lines are obscure; compared to basic fire-element array lines, the strokes differ slightly. The array pivot structure is standard, but the spiritual sense demand is higher."

Qian Hong's gaze sharpened, "They're all Grade-One arrays—why would spiritual sense requirements vary?"

"Clan Head, you don't know," Master Qian said solemnly, "Arrays are manifestations of the Dao; their grades are human-made. How could the Dao's natural array lines rigidly conform to human-defined standards?"

"Thus, even within the same grade, arrays vary in difficulty—some require more spiritual sense, others less—but overall, they still fall within the same framework, merely with slight deviations."

Qian Hong felt a pang of awe, "Arrays truly are vast and profound."

Master Qian continued, "Compared to other Grade-One arrays, the Molten Fire Array demands slightly more spiritual sense. Don't underestimate this slight increase—when spiritual sense nears its limit, every additional point becomes as hard as climbing to heaven. This extra demand of the Molten Fire Array is a major barrier for array masters—not all can cross it…"

"Moreover, its array lines are obscure and require extensive practice to master, yet because of the high spiritual sense demand, it cannot be practiced often—so learning this array is doubly difficult. If someone truly masters it, they must already possess the strength of a Grade-One array master."

Qian Hong listened, half-understanding, but grasped the key point, and happily congratulated,

"Master, having grasped this array, your array mastery must have advanced further—next grading, the title of Grade-One Array Master should be yours for the taking."

"Clan Head, you flatter me—I've merely gained a bit more confidence. Until the matter is settled, nothing is certain."

Master Qian spoke humbly, yet his expression was deeply self-satisfied.

In Xiancheng, the number of true Grade-One array masters could be counted on one hand—and he would soon become one of them!

Qian Hong immediately gave the order to prepare a first-grade artifact-forging furnace and invited Grandmaster Qian to inscribe the array upon it.

Two days later, Mo Hua had also learned the first-grade Molten Fire Array.

Although he had learned it, Mo Hua still frowned slightly.

Normally, a first-grade array, he could master it in a day or two. But this first-grade Molten Fire Array, he had practiced it on and off for four or five days before he could draw the array out completely and perfectly.

It wasn't because this array required an unusually large amount of spiritual sense.

In Mo Hua's view, the spiritual sense required by the first-grade Molten Fire Array was indeed a bit more, but only a little bit; for him it was nothing, at least less than what the first-grade Restoration Array required.

The reason Mo Hua learned it a bit slowly was that the array patterns were somewhat obscure; Mo Hua was used to drawing them according to the basic array pattern style, and whenever the two diverged, it was easy to make mistakes.

Mo Hua drew it over and over again for several days before he finally memorized the array patterns and drew out the first-grade Molten Fire Array in full.

"This first-grade Molten Fire Array is indeed a bit harder."

Mo Hua nodded in agreement.