Master Chen hesitated before asking:
"Mo... young friend, is there something wrong with this formation?"
"What do you think is wrong?"
"I'm not quite sure, but this formation pattern seems... like there's an extra one?"
Mo Hua's eyes lit up. "You noticed?"
"Well..." Master Chen hesitated. "So, is this still the Meltfire Array?"
"Of course!" Mo Hua explained, "This is the Meltfire Array with six formation runes. I just learned it from my master. It's still the Meltfire Array, but with an extra rune, so its effectiveness is significantly enhanced."
"Have you ever drawn it before?"
"You can rest assured, I've drawn it many times on paper!" Mo Hua said confidently.
"Have you ever drawn it on a refining furnace?"
Master Chen didn't ask this question aloud, but he knew without asking that this kid definitely hadn't practiced drawing it on a real refining furnace.
Master Chen's heart sank. "Oh no, my furnace has become this kid's practice ground!"
But at this point, there was no turning back.
Master Chen looked at the disassembled furnace and the erased formation, and reluctantly said, "Well, go ahead and draw it. I trust you."
Mo Hua didn't sense the insincerity in Master Chen's words. Instead, he was encouraged and immediately began drawing with his formation brush.
Master Chen nervously watched from the side. Every pause or frown from Mo Hua made Master Chen break out in sweat.
This furnace was his entire livelihood. If anything went wrong, he would really be left with nothing.
The ordeal lasted for nearly two hours until Mo Hua completed the entire formation. Master Chen finally breathed a sigh of relief. But before he could catch his breath, Mo Hua said:
"Finished."
Master Chen's heart leaped into his throat again.
"The formation... is it wrong?" Master Chen's voice trembled.
"The formation... isn't wrong, but the runes can't activate, the spiritual energy can't conduct..." Mo Hua rubbed his chin, frowning in thought.
"What... what should we do?" Master Chen asked anxiously.
"Don't worry, Uncle Chen, let me think."
"Okay, okay."
Master Chen nodded repeatedly, anxious but afraid to disturb Mo Hua.
"The formation is exactly like the diagram, the central node is correct, the runes are correct, and the focal point is a Spirit Gathering Array. When the Spirit Gathering Array absorbs spiritual energy, it should be able to activate the entire formation..."
Mo Hua muttered to himself.
Usually, when drawing formations on spiritual tools, a bit of spiritual energy needed to be infused to light up the runes and verify if the formation could work.
Mo Hua then placed his palm on the Spirit Gathering Array. Faint spiritual energy flowed from his hand, seeping into the array. The Spirit Gathering Array faintly glowed, and spiritual energy gradually entered each rune, but the entire formation showed no response.
After waiting for a moment, Master Chen couldn't help but interrupt, "Should I try?"
Mo Hua thought to himself, if I can't activate the formation I drew myself, what difference would it make if someone else tried? However, seeing Master Chen's anxious expression, Mo Hua agreed to his request.
Master Chen placed his palm on the Spirit Gathering Array, circulated his spiritual energy, and then the entire formation lit up...
Mo Hua stared with wide eyes at Master Chen and couldn't help but ask in confusion:
"Why is it that I couldn't activate it, but you could?"
"Is there a possibility," Master Chen tried to phrase it delicately, "that your spiritual energy is too weak..."
Mo Hua: "..."
"You're only at the third level of Qi Refining, right?"
"Unless something unexpected happens, I should already be at the fourth level of Qi Refining!" Mo Hua explained.
If it weren't for studying the "Heavenly Expansion Technique," he should indeed have achieved the fourth level of Qi Refining by now.
Master Chen comforted him, "It's okay, it's okay. At your age, reaching the third level of Qi Refining is already very good. My group of apprentices were only at the second or third level when they were your age."
"Mm-hmm!"
All the apprentices nodded along, though it was uncertain whether it was genuine or not.
Mo Hua didn't bother explaining further and simply said, "Let's reinstall the refining furnace and see if it works."
"Yes, yes! We almost forgot the main task. Let's hurry up and reinstall it."
Master Chen perked up, quickly instructing the apprentices to reinstall the furnace. He then took out two spirit stones and embedded them in the back of the furnace.
Afterward, he lit a fire, and flames immediately burst forth.
Master Chen's eyes brightened as he took out a knife-shaped spiritual tool embryo and placed it in the fire. After a moment, the embryo glowed red hot. Master Chen retrieved it and hammered it a few times with a hammer, unable to contain his joy.
"Excellent! This fire is amazing! The intensity of this furnace's fire is almost as good as that of a larger refining furnace."
Mo Hua also breathed a sigh of relief. While he was confident, he still feared any mishaps. If he accidentally damaged Master Chen's refining furnace, it wouldn't be good.
"Then, Master Chen, I'll take my leave now."
"What about the spirit stones for drawing the formation?"
Mo Hua waved his hand. "We agreed on a free drawing, so forget about the spirit stones."
Still feeling guilty, Master Chen gave Mo Hua the remaining spirit ink for drawing the Meltfire Array and a few more formation brushes.
The brushes were brand new and likely crafted by someone else who asked Master Chen for help, better than the ones Mo Hua had been using. As for the spirit ink, Mo Hua had been coveting such high-quality ink for a long time.
After some symbolic polite gestures, Mo Hua accepted them.
Master Chen added, "If you need any spiritual tools to be refined in the future, just come find me. As long as it's not something particularly large, I won't take your spirit stones."
This promise was quite valuable.
"Thank you, Uncle Chen!"
Mo Hua happily returned home, thinking about which spiritual tools he might need and planning to ask Master Chen for help when the time came.
Once Mo Hua was out of earshot, Da Zhu asked his master in a low voice, "Master, is what we gave him really enough? If we had Master Jia draw this formation, it would have cost quite a few spirit stones!"
Master Chen replied impatiently, "I'd love to give more, but where would the spirit stones come from?"
"The spirit stones from the Shen family's batch of spiritual tools haven't been settled yet. We need spirit stones for firing up the furnace here, buying refined iron for forging, and even for feeding you bunch of kids. One spirit stone split into ten pieces wouldn't even be enough to cover all our expenses. I can only shamelessly take advantage of this little kid."
Da Zhu didn't dare to speak further, afraid of making his master angry.
Master Chen stood up, paced a few steps, glanced at the furnace fire, then gritted his teeth after a moment of contemplation.
"Get that box of hundred-year-old water caltrop. Later, send it to Mo Hua. I heard his mother isn't in good health, suffering from internal heat. This medicine will come in handy."
"But wasn't that box of water caltrop meant for Master Jia? What about him?"
"Never mind him. He's polite when it comes to receiving gifts, but acts all high and mighty when asked to draw formations, not to mention he charges a hefty fee for it. With such a big appetite, he's not afraid of choking himself."
"If we don't give him gifts, he'll be unhappy, and he might not draw formations for us in the future."
"It's okay, we have Mo Hua now."
"Is it okay not to give spirit stones when asking Mo Hua to draw formations? It doesn't seem right..."
Master Chen glared at Da Zhu. "Am I the kind of person who would do that? We really don't have any spirit stones right now. When we have some, we'll naturally give them."
"That's good, that's good," Da Zhu nodded, then hesitated and said worriedly, "But I heard that Master Jia might be promoted to Grade A in a few years, becoming a Grade A Formation Master... Will we be in trouble if we offend him?"
"Grade A promotion isn't that easy. He's just taking advantage of others' ignorance about formations, talking a lot of nonsense. When it comes to actually drawing formations, he's not as skillful as that kid Mo Hua. I think even when Mo Hua reaches Grade A, he won't necessarily be inferior."
"Impossible. Mo Hua is only at the third level of Qi Refining now. It will take ages for him to reach Grade A."
"What nonsense. Just do as I say. I have my own considerations."
After weighing his options in his mind, Da Zhu felt more inclined to give gifts to Mo Hua than to Master Jia.
"Then I'll go later."
"What are you going to do later?" Master Chen asked, puzzled.
Da Zhu scratched his head. "I'll go later to have a meal. Aunt Liu's cooking is so delicious."
Master Chen: "..."
(End of the Chapter)