Chapter 225

After celebrating the New Year in lively fashion, Mo Hua turned thirteen.

He had grown taller, but only slightly, and still looked no different—a small cultivator.

Mo Hua's thoughts, beyond his daily sketches of arrays, were mostly devoted to cultivation.

He had already reached the peak of Qi Refinement Sixth Layer, and it would not be long before he encountered the bottleneck, facing the threshold of mid-Qi Refinement.

Once he broke through the bottleneck, he would become a Qi Refinement late-stage cultivator.

Qi Refinement late-stage brought him closer to Foundation Establishment.

The cultivation world was vast, filled with countless cultivators; Qi Refinement was but ants and insects, while achieving Foundation Establishment was the first step toward changing one's Dao destiny.

Foundation Establishment built the foundation of the Dao.

No matter how strong one's Dao heart, without Foundation Establishment, all was empty talk.

On this day, Mo Hua rose at Mao Hour and resumed his usual cultivation.

Suddenly, his Qi Sea trembled, and spiritual energy began flowing rapidly.

Mo Hua perked up, took out spiritual stones, and settled his mind to cultivate. These spiritual stones were refined by Mo Hua, forming pure spiritual energy that converged toward his Qi Sea until it overflowed.

Then, just as during his first breakthrough, a bottleneck appeared.

The overflowing spiritual energy traveled upward along the meridians, gathering at Baihui, and when it reached Tianmen Point, it seeped inward like threads into his consciousness, swirling and weaving within, forming a spiritual veil.

This spiritual veil was the Puzzle Array—the very bottleneck one must overcome when practicing the Great Expansion Scripture.

Mo Hua felt both anticipation and unease, calmed his mind, and began to contemplate the Puzzle Array.

After a moment, he exhaled softly.

The array patterns on the Puzzle Array numbered in the hundreds and thousands, chaotic and shifting, numerous and complex; without being an array master, one would have no clue at all.

But as Mo Hua examined them closely, he found that most patterns, though obscure and constantly shifting, still fell within the scope of Five Element array patterns, all of which he could recognize.

As long as he could recognize them, he could find a way to unravel them.

Mo Hua recalled the fundamental principles of array unraveling, using the rules of Five Element generation and overcoming, pattern dissolution, and the forward and reverse flow of spiritual energy to begin solving them one by one.

After half a day, Mo Hua had unraveled over a dozen array patterns.

Mo Hua felt joy within.

The process of unraveling arrays was smoother than he had expected.

Thanks to Mr. Zhuang's teachings and Mo Hua's relentless daily practice—including his contemplation and application of Grade-One Compound Arrays—Mo Hua's current array skill, including his array experience, was already among the rarest among Grade-One Array Masters.

He could now unravel these Puzzle Arrays entirely through his own array expertise.

Above the Puzzle Array, spiritual threads intertwined chaotically, array patterns densely packed, constantly flowing.

What left ordinary cultivators helpless and caused ordinary array masters to turn pale was, in Mo Hua's eyes, now clear and obvious—not a challenge at all.

All the effort he had previously poured into arrays had been worth it.

The only issue was that the number of Puzzle Arrays was too great; unraveling them would simply take time.

Thus, Mo Hua forgot meals and sleep, day and night, wholly absorbed in unraveling the Puzzle Arrays.

Sometimes, even while eating or walking, he would drift off, frowning suddenly, then suddenly realizing, then sinking into deep thought, then his eyes lighting up again.

The cultivators around him, seeing this, knew Mo Hua was contemplating some difficult problem, and quietly left him undisturbed.

Finally, after a month, Mo Hua unraveled every single Puzzle Array.

The spiritual veil suddenly dissipated, the Puzzle Array instantly unbound, the thread-like spiritual energy gradually faded, and finally merged into Mo Hua's consciousness.

Mo Hua's consciousness expanded slightly, his spiritual sense grew deeper, and his spiritual energy became more substantial.

He had finally broken through the bottleneck and become a Qi Refinement Seventh Layer cultivator.

Qi Refinement Seventh Layer—that was late-stage Qi Refinement!

Mo Hua was overjoyed; his cultivation had finally taken another crucial step forward. Now, as long as he remained steady, progressed gradually, and moved one step at a time toward Foundation Establishment, all would be well.

The ones happier than Mo Hua at his becoming a Qi Refinement late-stage cultivator were naturally Liu Ruhua and Seeing Mo Shan.

Following custom, they hosted a banquet for neighbors and several deeply trusted cultivators.

Mo Hua received many gifts—from Elder Yu, Master Chen, Old Master Feng, the Demon Hunter, Master Luo, and several other array masters.

After the banquet's lively festivities, Mo Hua settled his mind and began considering what to do next.

Cultivation required diligent, unceasing practice, relying on the principle of water wearing away stone and natural flow—there were no shortcuts, so nothing more needed to be said.

For Dao techniques, Mo Hua wanted to learn one or two more spells, just in case.

As a Qi Refinement late-stage cultivator, his power had grown, but so too might the dangers he faced; more skills meant greater safety—learning one or two additional spells was essential.

Yet Mo Hua did not yet know whom to ask.

If he learned on his own, he had no suitable spell scriptures.

It was also difficult to approach Master Puppet; Master Puppet had already taught him how to fish—he couldn't keep going back asking for fish.

When it was time to find his own way, he must find his own way.

But this was not urgent; he could take his time.

What truly gave Mo Hua pause, however, was array study.

He was already at the level of a Grade-One Array Master and had learned the more difficult Grade-One Compound Arrays, but his cultivation was still far from Foundation Establishment; without Foundation Establishment, he could not become a Grade-Two Array Master.

So during this time, what arrays should he study?

Keep studying Compound Arrays?

Mo Hua was already familiar with ordinary Compound Arrays; the more difficult ones simply had array cores too strong—he lacked sufficient spiritual sense to learn them yet.

But the principles of Compound Arrays, especially Five Element array cores, Mo Hua had already mastered; studying further would only broaden his array knowledge, not deepen it.

As he studied, he began to find it dull.

Should he then study Great Arrays?

Mo Hua's understanding of Great Arrays was still shallow—he knew only that they were large-scale Compound Arrays, and little else.

Moreover, even if he were to learn the Great Array, Mo Hua could only practice it on the Dao Stele in his mind sea—he could not draw it in reality.

Because the Great Array demands enormous resources: large-scale array media, vast quantities of Spirit Stones, and countless laborers. This is beyond Mo Hua's capability.

In addition, Mo Hua had another point he did not understand: his spiritual sense.

Mo Hua's spiritual sense was already very strong—stronger than that of a typical Cultivation Base Ninth Layer cultivator, and even most First-Rank Array Masters had spiritual sense far inferior to Mo Hua's.

But compared to the spiritual sense of a Foundation Establishment cultivator, Mo Hua still fell far short.

Mo Hua's spiritual sense was still growing; relying on the Dao Stele strengthened it, practicing arrays honed it, and when his realm eventually broke through, his spiritual sense would grow further.

Could it one day happen that, even before Foundation Establishment, his spiritual sense would rival that of a Foundation Establishment cultivator?

Where, exactly, lay the boundary between the spiritual sense of a Cultivation Base cultivator and that of a Foundation Establishment cultivator?

This exceeded Mo Hua's understanding, so he went to visit Mr. Zhuang.

Mr. Zhuang saw Mo Hua, his expression calm, yet inwardly sighing:

"This child's spiritual sense has grown stronger again…"

He no longer knew how to teach him.

Mo Hua bowed respectfully to Mr. Zhuang, then asked: "Master, shall I continue studying the Compound Arrays?"

"Continue as before."

"Oh."

Mo Hua found the Compound Arrays somewhat dull, but he did not dare say so.

Mr. Zhuang asked: "What kind of puzzle array is in your mind sea this time?"

Mo Hua thought for a moment, then said: "Still the Five Elements array patterns, but the puzzle array's rank has risen—mostly First-Rank arrays, and some Compound Arrays are included."

Mr. Zhuang fell silent for a moment, then sighed: "If that's the case, your Foundation Establishment will be very difficult."