Chapter 70: Chapter Seventy: Trial Run

Master Chen hesitated and asked:

"Mo… young brother, this array of yours… isn't there something wrong with it…?"

"Where do you think it's wrong?"

"I don't fully understand, but this array pattern… seems… like it has an extra line?"

Mo Hua's eyes lit up. "You noticed?"

"Uh…" Master Chen asked, "So is this still the Molten Fire Array?"

"Of course!" Mo Hua explained. "This is the Molten Fire Array with six array lines. I just learned it from Mr. It's still the Molten Fire Array, but because of the extra line, its effect is much stronger…"

"Have you drawn it before?"

"Don't worry—I've drawn it countless times on paper!" Mo Hua said confidently.

"Have you ever drawn it on a forging furnace?"

Master Chen didn't voice the question, but he knew without thinking: this boy had never actually drawn it on a forging furnace.

Master Chen's heart sank. "Damn it, this kid's using my forging furnace as a practice dummy!"

But it was too late to turn back now.

Master Chen glanced at the disassembled forging furnace, at the erased array, and forced himself to say: "Go ahead. Old man trusts you."

Mo Hua didn't catch Master Chen's insincerity; he was greatly encouraged and immediately began drawing with his array brush.

Master Chen watched nervously beside him; every time Mo Hua paused or frowned in thought, Master Chen broke into a cold sweat.

This furnace was his entire livelihood—if anything went wrong, he'd be reduced to drinking wind and eating dust.

This torment lasted nearly two hours, until Mo Hua finished the entire array, when Master Chen finally exhaled. But before he could catch his breath, Mo Hua said:

"Done for."

Master Chen's heart shot up to his throat.

"Did you… mess up the array?" Master Chen's voice trembled.

"The array… isn't wrong, but the array lines won't activate—spiritual energy won't flow…" Mo Hua rubbed his small chin, frowning in thought.

"Then… what should we do?"

"Uncle Chen, don't panic. Let me think."

"Oh, oh."

Master Chen nodded frantically, pacing anxiously but dared not interrupt Mo Hua.

"The array matches the diagram exactly—the array pivot is correct, the array lines are correct, the array eye is a Spirit Gathering Array. When the Spirit Gathering Array absorbs spiritual energy, it should light up the entire array…"

Mo Hua muttered to himself.

Normally, after drawing an array on a spiritual artifact, one must inject a bit of spiritual energy to activate the lines and verify whether the array works.

Mo Hua pressed his palm against the Spirit Gathering Array, releasing faint spiritual energy that seeped into the array. The Spirit Gathering Array glowed faintly, and the spiritual energy gradually flowed into each array line—but the entire array remained unresponsive.

After waiting a while, Master Chen couldn't hold back anymore: "Maybe… let me try?"

Mo Hua thought: If I can't activate my own array, how could someone else succeed? But seeing Master Chen's anxious expression, he agreed.

Master Chen pressed his palm against the Spirit Gathering Array, activated his spiritual energy—and the entire array lit up…

Mo Hua's mouth dropped open. He looked at Master Chen and asked in confusion:

"Strange… why can't I activate it, but you can?"

"Is it possible," Master Chen said as gently as he could, "that your spiritual energy is too weak…"

Mo Hua: "…."

"You're only at Qi Refinement Third Layer, right?"

"If not for learning the Great Expansion Scripture, I'd already be at Qi Refinement Fourth Layer!" Mo Hua explained.

If he hadn't studied the Great Expansion Scripture, he truly should have reached Qi Refinement Fourth Layer by now.

Master Chen comforted him: "It's fine, it's fine. At your age, Qi Refinement Third Layer is quite good. All my apprentices were only at Qi Refinement Second or Third Layer when they were your age."

"Mm-hmm!"

The apprentices all nodded along, though no one knew if it was true.

Mo Hua no longer wanted to explain. "Just reassemble the furnace. Let's see if it works."

"Yes, yes! Almost forgot the main thing—hurry and put it back together!"

Master Chen perked up and immediately ordered his apprentices to reassemble the furnace, then took out two spiritual stones and embedded them into the back of the furnace.

He ignited the fire—and flames burst forth instantly.

Master Chen's eyes gleamed. He placed a sword-shaped spiritual artifact blank into the fire. Moments later, the blank glowed red-hot. He pulled it out, swung his hammer a few times, and grinned broadly.

"Good! This fire is excellent! The furnace's flame intensity is nearly equal to a large-scale forging furnace!"

Mo Hua also relaxed. He had confidence, but he'd feared an accident—destroying Master Chen's furnace would've been disastrous.

"Then, Master Chen, I'll be going."

"What about the spiritual stone used for drawing the array…"

Mo Hua waved his hand. "I said I'd draw it for free—no need for the spiritual stone."

Master Chen still felt guilty, so he gave Mo Hua all the leftover spiritual ink from drawing the Molten Fire Array, and also shoved several array brushes into his hands.

The array brushes were brand-new—likely crafted for others who'd asked Master Chen for help—and far superior to Mo Hua's old ones. The spiritual ink was even better; Mo Hua had never used such high-quality ink before and had long coveted it.

Mo Hua offered token protests, then accepted them without guilt.

Master Chen added: "If you ever need any spiritual artifacts forged, just come to me. As long as it's not something huge, I won't charge you a single spiritual stone."

This promise was quite valuable.

"Thank you, Uncle Chen!"

Mo Hua went home happily, already thinking about which spiritual artifacts he might need in the future, so he could ask Master Chen for help crafting them.

Dazhu waited until Mo Hua walked far away, then quietly asked his master, "Master, is what we're giving really enough? If we asked Master Jia to draw this formation, it would cost quite a few spirit stones!"

Master Chen said irritably, "I'd like to give more too, but where would the spirit stones come from?"

"The spirit stones for that batch of spirit artifacts from the Shen family haven't been settled yet. On this side, the artifact-forging furnace needs spirit stones to burn, buying refined iron for forging needs spirit stones, and you little brats eating meals also need spirit stones. Even splitting one spirit stone into ten to spend isn't enough. I can only brazen it out and take a bit of advantage from the little kid."

Dazhu, afraid of angering his master, didn't dare say anything more.

Master Chen stood up, paced a couple of steps, glanced again at the furnace fire, thought for a moment, then gritted his teeth and said:

"Bring that box of hundred-year water poria over. Later, deliver it to the kid Mo Hua. I heard his mother is in poor health, with fire-qi invading her body—this medicine will come in just right."

"Wasn't that box of water poria meant to be given to Formation Master Jia? If we give it to Mo Hua, what do we do about Formation Master Jia's side?"

"Forget him. Normally when receiving gifts he's all polite and agreeable, but the moment we ask him to draw formations he gets arrogant, and he never fails to collect every last spirit stone. With an appetite that big, he's not afraid of choking to death." Master Chen was a bit indignant.

"If we don't send a gift, he'll be unhappy, and he'll probably refuse to draw formations for us." Dazhu said, a little worried.

"It's fine. We've got Mo Hua now, don't we."

"If we have Mo Hua draw formations, we just don't pay spirit stones? That doesn't seem right…"

Master Chen glared at Dazhu. "Is your master that kind of person? Right now we truly have no spirit stones. Once we have them in the future, naturally we'll pay?"

"That's good then, that's good then." Dazhu nodded, then said uneasily:

"But I heard Formation Master Jia might have his grade confirmed in a few years—a first-grade formation master… If we offend him, won't it cause trouble?"

Master Chen gave a contemptuous smile. "Having one's grade confirmed isn't that easy. He just bullies others into not understanding formations, spouting a bunch of fog and nonsense. When he actually puts brush to paper and draws formations, he's not even as deft as that little kid Mo Hua. I figure by the time Mo Hua has his grade confirmed, Jia might not even have his."

"Impossible. Mo Hua is only at the third layer of Qi Refining now. Having his grade confirmed would take forever."

"Enough nonsense. I told you to go deliver it, so go. Your master has the rest figured out."

Dazhu weighed it in his heart and decided that compared to Formation Master Jia, he'd rather give gifts to Mo Hua.

"Then I'll go in a bit."

"Go in a bit to do what?" Master Chen asked, puzzled.

Dazhu scratched his head. "When I head over later, I can mooch a meal. Auntie Liu's cooking is really delicious."

Master Chen: "…"