Chapter 29: Chapter Twenty-Nine: The Stove Furnace

The Shopkeeper went upstairs and soon came back down, politely inviting Mo Hua up.

When Mo Hua saw Young Master An, the latter was drinking with several well-dressed, horse-riding youths; the table was piled with various colorful, fresh, glistening Spirit Fruits, maids fanned them with gentle scented breezes, and singing girls performed, their melodies lingering in the air.

The room was cool and comfortable, utterly free of summer's heat; ice-element arrays were carved into the screens to cool and ventilate the space.

Mo Hua thought of the itinerant cultivators sweating under the scorching sun, hawking goods on the streets to make ends meet, and felt a pang of emotion.

They were all Qi Condensation cultivators, living in the same Xiancheng, yet it felt as if they lived in two different worlds.

"Mo Hua, it really is you!"

Young Master An was pleased to see Mo Hua and waved him over. "Come, come, join us for a drink."

Young Master An's face was flushed from drinking, but he was young and had likely only consumed fruit wine—even drunk, it wouldn't harm him much.

Mo Hua had no interest in drinking and said directly, "Young Master An, I need your help with something."

"Oh," Young Master An snapped back to himself and waved to the other youths. "You guys keep drinking—I've got something to attend to."

The Shopkeeper then led Mo Hua and Young Master An to a quiet private room. Mo Hua got straight to the point: "Young Master An, I'd like to ask you for a favor."

Young Master An, still slightly drunk, patted his chest. "If I can help, just say it!"

Mo Hua glanced at the opulent decor of the private room and asked, "This dining hall—your family owns it, right?"

Young Master An beamed. "Yes!"

"Do your kitchens use a stove furnace, or do they rely on cultivators' Qi to generate fire?"

Young Master An looked confused, thought for a while, and had no idea—he called out, "Shopkeeper!"

Soon the Shopkeeper entered. Young Master An pointed at him and told Mo Hua, "Ask him."

Mo Hua repeated his question to the Shopkeeper.

The Shopkeeper answered: "Originally we used cultivators' Qi to generate fire, but that damaged their hearts and lungs, and the heat was unstable. So our employer decided to stop it. Last year, we hired a Mechanic to forge a special stove furnace and had an Array Master inscribe arrays into it—since then, we've used only the stove furnace."

Mo Hua asked curiously, "Is the cost of the stove furnace higher than hiring cultivators?"

The Shopkeeper replied honestly: "Long-term, the stove furnace is better. In the short term, hiring cultivators is cheaper. And you can haggle the price—sometimes, when business is bad, you can hire a Qi Condensation itinerant for half a Spirit Stone."

Mo Hua felt a sour twist in his chest.

Even as a cultivator, one still couldn't escape exploitation.

"Can I see the stove furnace?"

The Shopkeeper hesitated, glancing at Young Master An—he couldn't decide this himself; outsiders were normally barred from the kitchen.

Young Master An, a little more sober, asked the Shopkeeper: "Can't others see it?"

The Shopkeeper said: "The recipes are secret, but the stove furnace itself? Many dining halls have them. Those without one simply don't want to spend Spirit Stones to forge one—it's not a secret."

Young Master An said: "Then let's go see it—I've never seen one myself."

"Very well, I'll take the two young masters there."

The Shopkeeper sighed in relief—having Young Master An along meant any trouble wouldn't fall entirely on him.

The Shopkeeper brought Mo Hua and the others to the kitchen and pointed to a massive, two-person-tall furnace-like device: "This is the stove furnace. Once you insert a Spirit Stone, the array inside converts its energy into heat, which extends to every cooking station to power cultivators preparing ingredients."

"The stove furnace and each cooking station are linked by arrays, and each station has its own dedicated array to control the intensity of the heat…"

Mo Hua found it fascinating—he'd never seen Mechanic work and Array art combined like this before.

Young Master An stared wide-eyed—he only ever ate, never wondered how the food was made.

The Shopkeeper explained to Mo Hua and Young Master An, his tone proud.

Mo Hua carefully examined the stove furnace, looking left and right, inspecting every gap at the furnace mouth and seams.

Seeing Mo Hua's expression as if he wanted to tear the stove apart to see what was inside, the Shopkeeper couldn't help asking, "Young Master Mo, are you curious about something?"

Mo Hua asked: "Shopkeeper, do you know what arrays are inscribed inside the stove furnace?"

The Shopkeeper hesitated, then thought: Knowing which arrays were used wouldn't help—what mattered was whether one could draw them, and arrays weren't easy to inscribe.

"The arrays inside this stove furnace aren't complex—just one Melting Fire Array with five array lines. But the placement is critical: it must be drawn on the furnace's base, so the heat distributes evenly. There must be a gap on the furnace's exterior to insert the Spirit Stone, so its Qi seeps into the Melting Fire Array and activates the heat…"

The Shopkeeper told Mo Hua everything in detail.

"Oh oh," Mo Hua nodded repeatedly.

After watching and chatting for a long while, Mo Hua had asked all he needed to know. He sincerely thanked the Shopkeeper and prepared to leave.

Young Master An grabbed Mo Hua's arm. "Don't rush off—I'll treat you to something delicious."

Mo Hua had other matters and declined.

"Are you refusing to show me face?" Young Master An grew annoyed.

Mo Hua praised Young Master An for his generosity, then whispered: "Next time the instructor assigns an Array homework, I'll draw it for you for free."

Young Master An beamed and nodded eagerly: "Yes yes!"

He didn't care about Spirit Stones—he cared about face. Mo Hua helping him for free made him feel honored.

The Shopkeeper watched Mo Hua's retreating back and asked Young Master An: "Young Master, what is this Mo公子's status?"

"He's my fellow sect member—his Array drawing is excellent, even better than mine. To be honest, all my Array homework is done by him!"

Young Master An even felt a little proud.

The Shopkeeper's face remained expressionless, silently thinking: There's nothing to be proud of here…

"Shopkeeper, go attend to your duties—I'm off to drink."

As Young Master An turned to leave, he suddenly froze, grabbed the Shopkeeper's sleeve, and stared at him with wide, fixed eyes.

The Shopkeeper grew nervous. "Y-Young Master…"

Young Master An lowered his voice: "You must not tell my father about this!"

"This… thing?"

"That my assignments are done by someone else—don't you dare tell my father!"

The Shopkeeper's lip twitched. "Yes, yes…"

An Xiaopang patted his chest. "That was close. Good thing I'm quick-witted, or I would've been exposed." He then made the Shopkeeper swear not to tell his father, and only then did he head upstairs with peace of mind.

The Shopkeeper was a little helpless, thinking to himself: "Can the An family's estate really be protected by this unreliable young master…"

The Shopkeeper thought again of that child surnamed Mo from earlier.

From the looks of it, he wasn't some child of a wealthy family, just an ordinary cultivator's child. He wondered why the boy had asked about the stove.

The Shopkeeper walked a few steps, recalled Young Master An's words, and suddenly stopped. "Good at drawing formations? He wouldn't be thinking of drawing out the stove's formation, would he?"

"Young Master An is at the third layer of Qi Refining, and he's in the same sect as that child surnamed Mo, which means that child is at most at the third layer of Qi Refining. Where would a third-layer Qi Refining cultivator get the divine sense to draw formations?"

The Shopkeeper shook his head and went off to find a place to drink tea.