Since obtaining the "Record of Thousand Formations," Mo Hua had been immersed in its pages, flipping through eagerly. Whenever he found an interesting formation, he would visit Mr. Zhuang's library to check and meticulously jot down any doubts.
In the early mornings or evenings, he would seek Mr. Zhuang's guidance.
For a casual cultivator like Mo Hua, acquiring a formation diagram was quite challenging. Besides basic diagrams like the Minghuo Formation, more complex ones required additional spirit stones for copying.
However, Mo Hua now had nearly a thousand formation diagrams in his hands. If he mastered all these formations, becoming a first-grade formation master would be a breeze. Just thinking about it made Mo Hua excited beyond measure.
Mo Hua studied formations day and night, like a little mouse diving into a rice granary, eager to consume every bit of knowledge.
During the day, he read formation books and drew diagrams, consulting Mr. Zhuang with questions. At night, he practiced repeatedly on the remnants of his sea of consciousness.
After learning the "Celestial Expansion Scripture," Mo Hua understood from Mr. Zhuang that breadth of knowledge, not depth, was crucial in formation learning. Therefore, he didn't delve deeply into each formation; as long as he could draw them, it sufficed. Some formations he would learn to draw and promptly forget their names.
Over the past few months, Mo Hua's spiritual consciousness had fluctuated between fullness and depletion, then recovered and depleted again.
Mo Hua's cultivation had not progressed an inch, but his spiritual consciousness had become deeper. While his theoretical understanding of formations hadn't grown, he found learning and depicting formations easier. Runes that had once seemed obscure and complex now appeared natural and familiar to him.
"What are you reading?"
One day, Mo Hua was engrossed in a book when Bai Zisheng leaned over and asked.
Mo Hua had been immersed in formation studies these days and hadn't paid much attention to Bai Zisheng. Meanwhile, Aunt Xue seemed to notice Bai Zisheng's distracted state and became stricter with him, assigning him various tasks in addition to cultivation, such as formations, alchemy, and artifact refining.
Although Mr. Zhuang was the tutor of the Bai siblings, the Bai family seemed more inclined to allow Mr. Zhuang to just oversee their practice, avoiding his displeasure. Apart from timely greetings and guidance, they rarely disturbed him.
Thus, Aunt Xue managed the Bai siblings' cultivation, adhering to the traditional method of the Bai family's direct lineage disciples.
While at home, Bai Zisheng had no interest in interacting with his relatives. Therefore, when he was practicing cultivation in seclusion, he could calm down. Now outside, besides seeing something new and interesting, and talking to Mo Hua, he felt a bit dull.
"You don't understand, those who compile collections often have a good reputation, they love embellishment. If they collect ten formations, they'll call it the 'Hundred Formations Chart'; if they collect a thousand formations, it becomes the 'Myriad Formations Chart'. Some people also often use grand words like 'Heaven-opening', 'Earth-creating', 'Cosmos-shaping', 'Divine Techniques' when naming their techniques, sounding impressive, but in reality, they're just low-grade techniques..."
"Do cultivators in the cultivation world also do such things?"
"If they haven't become immortals, they're still human, and humans love to boast."
"Oh."
Mo Hua thought about his own cultivation technique, 'Celestial Expansion Scripture', which included the word 'Celestial'. Its grade wasn't very high either, could it be just to impress people?
But this was an ancient technique, created by ancient cultivators; ancient people should be more honest...
Mo Hua sincerely hoped so.
Bai Zisheng continued flipping through the collection, the more he looked, the more surprised he became, and he quickly waved to Bai Zixi, "Zixi, Zixi, come and see, there are so many formations here that I've never seen before!"
Bai Zixi, who was quietly cultivating nearby, upon hearing this, also leaned over with her small head.
Mo Hua asked in confusion, "The Bai family should be a large clan. The formations recorded by Master Zhuang, are there more than those recorded in your family?"
Bai Zisheng, feeling unconvinced, corrected him, "These are only formations below first-grade; it's hard to say for higher-grade formations."
"Although the Bai family has a tradition of formations, it's actually not their specialty. It's normal for Master Zhuang to have more recorded formations than our family." Bai Zixi calmly stated.
"Hmph!" Bai Zisheng snorted, but he didn't dare to get angry with Bai Zixi, and refute her, so he could only sulk quietly.
Bai Zixi continued flipping through the collection, her eyes brightening more and more, displaying an appearance of fondness that she couldn't hide. After a moment, she raised her head, and her clear, bright eyes looked at Mo Hua.
Although she didn't say anything, Mo Hua understood the meaning in her eyes at a glance.
Mo Hua hesitated for a moment, then sighed, "I can only let you borrow it for an afternoon."
Since they were fellow disciples, Master Zhuang should understand, and probably wouldn't blame him.
A faint smile of contentment floated over Bai Zixi's flawless face, like the rosy clouds at dawn after a lotus emerges from water, clear and beautiful.
Bai Zixi took out a booklet without a cover from her storage bag and handed it to Mo Hua, "This is the Bai family's collection of formations below first-grade. Take a look, if there's anything you want to learn, I can teach you."
Mo Hua's eyes lit up, happily taking the booklet and flipping through it.
Although the formations recorded in the booklet were not as numerous as those given by Master Zhuang, some of the more basic formations were much more detailed and easier to understand. They seemed to be specifically for entry-level disciples, and many places had handwritten notes, with elegant and beautiful handwriting that looked like it was written by Bai Zixi.
"Wouldn't this violate the clan's rules?"
Mo Hua was somewhat worried; he knew that some clans had strict constraints on the transmission of formation techniques.
"Maybe..." Bai Zisheng nodded.
"It won't!" Bai Zixi denied.
"Why?"
"Because I'm giving it to you!"
Bai Zixi said calmly yet decisively.
Although he didn't understand why, Mo Hua felt that Bai Zixi, who spoke like this, had an inexplicable charisma.
After that, besides studying formations on his own, Mo Hua would occasionally learn from Bai Zixi. It was only then that he realized how profound Bai Zixi's knowledge of formations was compared to his own. Therefore, he reminded himself even more that the path of formations was boundless, and one must not be complacent.
When studying formations, Bai Zixi occasionally had doubts, Mo Hua would jot them down and then go ask Master Zhuang. After clarifying them, he would go back and explain to Bai Zixi. This also led to Mo Hua asking Master Zhuang questions more frequently.
One day, after Mo Hua asked Master Zhuang a question and left, Master Zhuang frowned, saying, "This isn't good."
"What's wrong?" Old Kui casually interjected from the side.
"Mo Hua comes to ask me things every day, I have no time to meditate!"
"Isn't it sleeping... " Old Kui ruthlessly exposed.
Master Zhuang pretended not to hear, pondering, "What should I do..."
"Why don't you just not answer?"
"How can that be? If a disciple has a question, it's not good to know it and not answer it, it's not good for a good teacher."
"When did you start caring about this kind of thing?"
"Since just now."
Old Kui didn't bother to talk to him, holding a piece of wood in his hand, not knowing what was carved, the carving knife wandering on the wood, and wood shavings were falling, but no sound came.
Master Zhuang lay lazily on the chair, his eyes looking to heaven, staring at the wooden beams above the pavilion, and his spirit wandering, but he came back to his senses after a while.
"You have to find an excuse to sleep in." Master Zhuang thought like this.
(End of the Chapter)