Chapter 204

The Qian family's affairs are handled by Elder Yu; the forging guild's affairs are handled by Master Chen; Mo Hua need only focus entirely on drawing arrays.

The construction progress of the alchemy guild is moving quickly, and Mo Hua's arrays are being drawn just as fast.

Since the architectural array diagrams are identical, Mo Hua merely needed to redraw them once more.

Mo Hua spent more than half a month completing the architectural arrays of the alchemy guild.

Master Ban was overjoyed, humming an off-key tune as he and his team of artisans finalized the work.

Mo Hua also planned to invite Master Feng to take a look.

After all, the alchemy guild would soon be under Master Feng's care.

When Mo Hua went to find Master Feng, the old master was still at Xinglin Hall, diagnosing and prescribing for cultivators, occasionally even opening his furnace to refine pills.

On a daily basis, Master Feng treated patients and refined pills, spending most of his time inside Xinglin Hall.

Unless making house calls, he rarely stepped outside.

Mo Hua explained the alchemy guild's progress to Master Feng.

"So soon?"

Master Feng was surprised; he had assumed such a large project would take at least three to four months just to reach initial scale, and half a year at minimum to complete.

Besides, the alchemy guild is Phase Two—first, the forging guild had to be finished.

But upon reflection, speed was better; he too wanted to see what the alchemy guild would look like.

"Wait a moment."

Master Feng told Mo Hua, finished attending to his few remaining patients, gave instructions to several disciples to manage the hall, then tidied up briefly and accompanied Mo Hua to the alchemy guild.

Upon seeing the forging guild, Master Feng's gaze sharpened; he inspected it inside and out, then exclaimed:

"Did you draw this array?"

Mo Hua nodded. "Yes!"

"You drew it alone?"

"I drew it alone!" said Mo Hua.

Master Feng smiled. "Excellent. No wonder everyone calls you 'Little Array Master.'"

Mo Hua felt a little embarrassed and chuckled sheepishly.

The alchemy guild's layout matched the forging guild's; the forging guild was vast and orderly, and the alchemy guild was the same.

Master Feng was extremely satisfied.

With such a large alchemy guild built, many pills could be refined.

Then every cultivator could have access to pills—whether injured or ill, pills could ease their urgent needs.

When pills became affordable, many cultivators could keep some on hand daily, allowing them to respond to emergencies.

This truly was a beneficial deed for the cultivators of Xiancheng.

Master Feng stroked his long white beard and nodded with satisfaction.

Before leaving, Master Feng went to inspect the forging furnace.

At the sight of it, Master Feng froze.

He circled the large forging furnace, frowned as he studied it closely, then looked at Mo Hua with disbelief: "A first-grade compound array?"

"Grandpa Feng, your eye is sharp—you spotted it at once!" Mo Hua exclaimed.

Most cultivators couldn't even recognize a first-grade array.

Master Feng had merely glanced around the furnace and identified it as a first-grade compound array—his perception was already exceptional.

After all, Master Feng was not an array master.

"Did you draw this too?" Master Feng hesitated, then asked again.

Mo Hua nodded. "Yes!"

Master Feng was speechless.

He had never underestimated Mo Hua's array skill, always held high regard for his talent in arrays, but never imagined it could be this absurd.

A first-grade compound array…

In his lifetime, he had never seen many first-grade array masters capable of drawing one.

Master Feng stood stunned for a moment, then noticed the pure furnace flame.

A vivid red, glowing intensely, almost solidified—it instantly seized Master Feng's spirit.

His heart trembled involuntarily.

"This fire…"

"Elder Yu said it's stronger than a Qi Condensation cultivator's flame," Mo Hua said.

Master Feng knew this well; he stood motionless, staring at the flame for a long time.

Beyond refining pills and healing, Master Feng had always been desireless—but now he could no longer hold back; he pointed at the furnace and said to Mo Hua:

"Could you… make one for me too?"

Mo Hua also wanted to make Master Feng a large first-grade alchemy furnace.

But such a furnace was not easy to make.

A standard first-grade forging furnace cannot serve as the medium for a first-grade Meltfire Compound Array; likewise, a standard first-grade alchemy furnace cannot sustain the long-term operation of a first-grade Meltfire Compound Array.

Moreover, the arrays used in alchemy furnaces are inherently more complex than those in forging furnaces.

A forging furnace only needs to supply flame; all other array functions are auxiliary. An alchemy furnace, besides supplying flame, must also account for the wood nature of herbs and the harmonization of spiritual energy.

Therefore, the compound arrays used in alchemy furnaces are more difficult.

This also means the alchemy furnace serving as the compound array's medium must be of high quality, forged with skill, and of substantial size.

Mo Hua asked Elder Yu if he had a suitable alchemy furnace.

Elder Yu was somewhat stumped; that large smelting furnace had been a stroke of luck, something he'd stumbled upon and benefited from.

But a top-grade large alchemy furnace was far harder to find.

Mo Hua had no choice but to tell Old Master Feng the truth.

He could solve the array problem, but as for the alchemy furnace, he had no solution.

After a moment of thought, Old Master Feng asked, "Can you forge it yourselves?"

"We could, if you have a smelting manual?"

Old Master Feng thought for a moment, then said, "I do."

"You really do?" Mo Hua blinked in surprise.

Old Master Feng went inside, opened a storage chest in the corner, and pulled out a yellowish-brown cowhide parchment from the bottom, on which was recorded the method for forging a large alchemy furnace.

Mo Hua glanced at the manual and exclaimed:

"Grandpa Feng, where did you get this?"

This large alchemy furnace had an extremely standard design and could accommodate highly complex arrays, matching the Fu Zhen perfectly—it was clearly no ordinary inheritance.

Old Master Feng sighed, "It was passed down by my sect. Before my master passed away, he gave me all of this. I never used it—it's been buried at the bottom of this chest for seventy or eighty years. If you hadn't mentioned it, I'd have forgotten entirely. I probably would've left it to rot under my coffin."

"Can you use it?" Old Master Feng added.

Mo Hua studied it again and said, "The array is fine, but I don't understand smelting—I need to ask Master Chen and the others."

Old Master Feng nodded. "Then take it and ask them."

Mo Hua brought the alchemy furnace's forging blueprint to Master Chen.

Master Chen glanced at it, his eyes lighting up. "Excellent manual! Excellent!"

"Can you forge it?" Mo Hua asked.

Master Chen tugged at his beard and said slowly, "It's difficult, but not impossible. I need to consult with the other masters."

"And Elder Yu as well," Master Chen added. "Forging this alchemy furnace requires a lot of refined iron and some special ores—like Smelting Fire Stone and Gold-vein Ore. Elder Yu will need to help gather them."

Elder Yu naturally agreed without hesitation. Once all preparations were made, Master Chen and the other masters studied for several more days before finally beginning to forge the alchemy furnace.

This alchemy furnace was the most difficult spiritual artifact Master Chen and the others had ever forged.

Mo Hua didn't watch the forging process closely, but he knew they had failed many times.

In the end, though slightly flawed, they succeeded in forging the alchemy furnace.