Chapter 226: Foundation Establishment Spiritual Sense

Mo Hua blinked in surprise.

Mr. Zhuang said: "These days, I reviewed the journals of past sect members who had practiced the Great Expansion Sword Art, studied them slightly, and compared them with the puzzle array you encountered—I discovered a problem."

Mo Hua's spirit lifted, and he listened intently.

"The bottleneck of the Great Expansion Sword Art varies from person to person," Mr. Zhuang said slowly.

Mo Hua looked slightly startled. "Varies from person to person?"

"Do you remember the small annotations on the Great Expansion Sword Art's cultivation text?" Mr. Zhuang asked.

Mo Hua thought for a moment and said: "The bottleneck lies in the spiritual sense—only an array master can cultivate it."

"The problem lies in the spiritual sense," Mr. Zhuang said, looking at Mo Hua. "The stronger your spiritual sense, the stronger the bottleneck."

Mo Hua opened his mouth wide and asked weakly:

"So if my spiritual sense were weaker, would cultivating the Great Expansion Sword Art be much easier…?"

Mr. Zhuang looked at Mo Hua with a half-smile. "If your spiritual sense is weak, the bottleneck is weak—and the technique's effectiveness naturally becomes weak too."

Mo Hua thought about it: the benefits of the Great Expansion Sword Art were to sharpen the spiritual sense and enhance control, allowing faster array drawing—but since his spiritual sense was already outstanding, this effect seemed barely necessary.

"Do you think spiritual sense control isn't important?" Mr. Zhuang saw through Mo Hua's thoughts.

Mo Hua nodded honestly.

Mr. Zhuang said: "The purpose of the Great Expansion Sword Art is to resolve arrays through the spiritual sea, training your control over the spiritual sense—the more complex the array you resolve, the more refined your spiritual sense control becomes after breakthrough."

Mr. Zhuang's expression turned reflective. "Spiritual sense control is extremely important for array masters—and for all cultivators alike. It determines your speed in drawing arrays and the timing of your spellcasting."

In short, you'll draw arrays faster and more of them, and cast spells more quickly.

Mo Hua nodded. "So this technique is still quite powerful, then?"

"As I just said—it varies from person to person," Mr. Zhuang said, his gaze sharpening.

"The stronger your spiritual sense, the more this technique becomes like adding wings to a tiger; the weaker your spiritual sense, the more useless it becomes."

Mo Hua's eyes lit up.

His spiritual sense wasn't weak—in fact, it was very strong.

It seemed he had chosen correctly—the Great Expansion Sword Art was indeed the perfect technique for him.

Mo Hua felt a flicker of pride, but Mr. Zhuang doused him with cold water:

"Although the stronger your spiritual sense, the greater the technique's effect, the bottleneck also becomes stronger—and the puzzle arrays more complex."

Mo Hua frowned.

Mr. Zhuang said: "Your mid-qi stage spiritual sea puzzle array is already a Grade One compound array—so what level of puzzle array must you resolve to break through to Foundation Establishment?"

Mo Hua's heart jolted. "Not a Great Array…?"

"Not necessarily. Strictly speaking, while Great Arrays fall within Grade One, they're not meant for Grade One array masters to learn."

"Master, can I learn Great Arrays now?" Mo Hua asked.

"Not yet."

"Oh." Mo Hua nodded.

Since Mr. Zhuang said so, he wouldn't reach too far ahead.

The immediate priority was still solving the technique's problem.

Mo Hua asked: "If stronger spiritual sense means a stronger bottleneck, how will I break through the Foundation Establishment bottleneck in the future?"

Mr. Zhuang glanced at Mo Hua and said calmly: "Actually, it's simple—just make your spiritual sense even stronger."

Mo Hua's frown deepened; he realized a problem:

"Master, if stronger spiritual sense means a stronger bottleneck, doesn't that mean no matter how strong my spiritual sense becomes, the bottleneck will always grow with it? If so, won't just strengthening spiritual sense alone fail to break through?"

Mr. Zhuang's gaze sharpened. "So your spiritual sense must grow beyond the limit."

Mo Hua's heart tightened. "The limit between qi stage and Foundation Establishment?"

"Precisely," Mr. Zhuang nodded.

"How much difference is there in spiritual sense between qi stage and Foundation Establishment?" Mo Hua asked.

Mr. Zhuang said: "A cultivator's spiritual power is measured in Zhou Tian, but spiritual sense is harder to standardize."

"One common method is to measure spiritual sense strength by the range of its external projection."

"Qi stage cultivators typically project their spiritual sense between ten and twenty zhang—stronger spiritual sense extends farther, weaker spiritual sense extends closer."

Mo Hua nodded—he relied on his strong spiritual sense to extend spell range, giving him an advantage.

"But this method isn't precise. Some cultivators naturally project their spiritual sense far, yet their actual strength is average; others aren't skilled at projection, yet their spiritual sea is solid and their spiritual sense deep."

"The most accurate way to measure spiritual sense is through array drawing."

"Array drawing?" Mo Hua blinked. "The number of array lines?"

"Exactly," Mr. Zhuang nodded. "Just as array masters measure array skill by the number of array lines, measuring spiritual sense strength by array line count is the most accurate method."

"Generally, a Qi Stage One cultivator can draw one array line—spiritual sense is one line; two lines mean two lines of spiritual sense… and so on—nine lines mean nine lines of spiritual sense."

"And nine lines of spiritual sense is the limit for qi stage cultivators."

Mo Hua thought silently: "So Foundation Establishment cultivators have ten lines of spiritual sense?"

Mr. Zhuang nodded.

"Just one line more?" Mo Hua blinked.

Mr. Zhuang smiled faintly. "It seems only one line—but the spiritual sense quantity doubles."

Mo Hua was startled. "How can it differ so much?"

Mr. Zhuang said: "When a cultivator advances from Qi Stage Nine to Foundation Establishment, their spiritual power undergoes a qualitative transformation—and their spiritual sense doubles. Thus, a Foundation Establishment cultivator begins using twice the spiritual sense of a Qi Stage Nine cultivator to draw Grade Two arrays."

"Nine lines of qi stage spiritual sense must double to reach ten lines of Foundation Establishment spiritual sense."

"And this doubling gap is the limit—the chasm no cultivator can cross!"

Mo Hua was stunned; no wonder he had always felt that since becoming a Rank-One Nine-Stripe Array Master, his spiritual sense had grown boundless, like an endless sea of mist.

The gap here was so vast, the chasm so deep.

"Could a Qi Condensation cultivator possibly possess a Ten-Stripe Foundation Establishment spiritual sense?" Mo Hua asked weakly.

"It's possible," Mr. Zhuang replied, gazing at Mo Hua with deep implication.

Mo Hua exhaled in relief; if it was possible, that was enough.

Immediately, his heart leapt—he suddenly understood.

"Could it be that I must first possess a Foundation Establishment spiritual sense to unravel the mystery array and break through my bottleneck to become a Foundation Establishment cultivator?"

Seeing that Mo Hua had figured it out, Mr. Zhuang nodded.

"Precisely. The stronger your spiritual sense, the stronger the bottleneck. But no matter how strong the cultivation bottleneck, it remains a Qi Condensation technique. Your spiritual sense has already surpassed the limits of Qi Condensation—naturally, you can break through. This means…"

Mr. Zhuang looked at Mo Hua and spoke slowly:

"Other cultivators must break through to Foundation Establishment before gaining a Foundation Establishment spiritual sense. But you are different—you must first possess a Foundation Establishment spiritual sense before you can become a Foundation Establishment cultivator!"

The fifth watch is over.

Thank you to the readers Yao Yuan and for the rewards~