Master Chen, was at the eighth level of Qi refinement and over a hundred years old, had hair half-white, a sturdy physique, and a face perennially darkened by the furnace's heat. Despite his dark complexion, his spirit was vigorous, and his voice resonant.
Master Chen was currently overseeing several disciples forging iron. Perhaps noticing something amiss among them, he widened his eyes and rebuked them sharply. The tall and strong forging disciples obediently accepted the scolding, not daring to raise their heads.
After the admonishment, Master Chen personally wielded a large hammer to demonstrate. His robust physique swung the hammer vigorously, and the heated iron sparked as it gradually took the shape of a blade.
Upon finishing the forging, Master Chen merely wiped off some sweat, his breathing steady, seemingly exerting little effort.
Mo Hua, naturally frail, watched enviously, wishing he had such strength himself someday...
"Pay attention! This is how iron should be struck. What were you doing just now? Lacking vigor, even a young girl embroidering has more spirit than you!"
Master Chen reprimanded the disciples again, then turned to see a young child with bright eyes gazing at him with admiration.
Master Chen hesitated for a moment and asked, "Little one, do you want to learn alchemy too?"
Life was difficult for casual cultivators. Once outside the sect, they had to fend for themselves, often needing to find their own paths and learn a trade.
Nearby, practitioners often sent their children to Master Chen to learn alchemy, ensuring they could support themselves in the future.
Master Chen accepted a few spirit stones casually, or some spirit grains as tuition fees.
Mo Hua looked at the tall and strong apprentices, then looked at his own small arms and legs. He shook his head helplessly and went straight to Master Chen.
"Master, can you help me make a stove?"
Also, the labor cost for the alchemist needs further negotiation.
Mo Hua didn't know how long Master Chen would take to forge this stove. But judging by the complexity, it would probably take about ten days to half a month, costing between fifty to seventy-five spirit stones.
This exceeded Mo Hua's budget, so he might have to ask his parents for more spirit stones or borrow some from someone else when the time came.
Next was the crucial part: the formation array.
Mo Hua spread out the Meltfire Array diagram on the table and began to study it carefully.
The Meltfire Array consisted of five fire-type formations, with most of the formations located near the fire positions. Just by looking at the intricate formations, it was more complex than the Gold Stone Array and the Solid Earth Array.
Mo Hua sighed softly, cleared his mind, and began to meticulously note down the formations and the sequence of strokes.
Mo Hua focused intently, and before he knew it, night had fallen.
Even during mealtime, Mo Hua was thinking about the array formations. He took a few bites of his steamed bun and then drifted off, lost in thought while holding the bun.
Liu Ruhua watched with both amusement and exasperation, pinching his cheek. "Eat your meal properly. Finish eating before you start thinking about other things."
Mo Hua snapped out of his thoughts, chuckled softly, and then focused on eating. After finishing his meal, he returned to his room.
Mo Hua had memorized the Meltfire Array formations quite well by now. He spent another hour practicing with ink on parchment without using spiritual power. Later, at midnight, he entered his Sea of consciousness and began practicing the array on a stone tablet.
The formations themselves, although complex, followed a basic logical structure similar to other arrays. Recording the formations wasn't difficult; the challenge lay in his spiritual awareness.
Mo Hua's spiritual awareness might not be sufficient to draw a complete Meltfire Array diagram.
Mo Hua began drawing the Meltfire Array on the tablet.
The first three formations went smoothly. By the time he reached the fourth formation, he started struggling noticeably. His spiritual awareness slowed, feeling increasingly depleted.
Mo Hua furrowed his brow slightly.
It wasn't until he finished the fourth formation that a piercing pain struck his sea of consciousness, as if the bed of a receding tide had begun to crack.
Mo Hua quickly stopped, swiftly erasing the formations on the tablet, which eased the pain in his spiritual awareness.
Mo Hua collapsed onto the ethereal ground of his sea of consciousness, gasping for breath.
"It's over. My spiritual awareness is far from enough..."
Mo Hua's spiritual awareness was only enough to draw four formations. After completing the fourth formation, he had no strength left to draw the fifth.
Though seemingly only one formation short, his spiritual awareness wouldn't quickly strengthen in the short term. This single formation might become a prolonged obstacle.
"What should I do?"
Mo Hua pondered.
There was no shortcut to increasing spiritual awareness, a well-known fact in the cultivation world.
For cultivators at the Qi Refinement stage in Tongxian City, spiritual awareness mainly grew stronger through advancing in cultivation. The higher the cultivation level, the stronger the spiritual awareness naturally became.
Another method was to enhance spiritual awareness through its frequent use. Array masters, for instance, constantly used their spiritual awareness to set up formations, thus naturally strengthening it more than ordinary cultivators.
Mo Hua had also asked Master Yan, who confirmed that spiritual awareness generally only grew stronger through cultivation advancement. As for specific methods or techniques solely for spiritual awareness cultivation, they were nonexistent as far as he knew.
Whether they truly didn't exist or were secretly kept by prestigious families and sects, Mo Hua couldn't determine.
Even if they did exist, Mo Hua certainly wouldn't be able to access them. Even if he did, he wouldn't risk cultivating them for fear of falling into demonic practices, condemned and hunted by all.
Mo Hua was currently at the third level of Qi Refinement and couldn't break through to the fourth level in the short term. Increasing his spiritual awareness through cultivation growth wasn't feasible.
There was only one method left before him:
Keep drawing arrays.
The method without shortcuts was the best shortcut.
(End of the Chapter)