Immortality Through Array Formations

Chen’s Refinery Shop.

Master Chen, along with a group of apprentices, swung hammers heatedly, pounding the just-forged blanks before placing them into the Artifact Furnace for quenching. After heating them until they glowed red-hot, they continued to take them out for further hammering.

Master Chen, who always insisted that his apprentices should concentrate when refining artifacts, was somewhat distracted now because little Mo Hua was watching them intently from the side.

Early in the morning, Mo Hua had sauntered in, saying he wanted to observe the process of artifact refining.

Master Chen found it hard to refuse because he had previously owed Mo Hua a favor and had done quite a substantial business deal with him, so he had agreed.

Mo Hua had been eyeing them for a long time, mostly focusing on the Artifact Furnace, with an eagerness in his eyes as if he wanted to dismantle the furnace and see what was inside.

What’s in an Artifact Furnace? Of course, there were formations.

Master Chen couldn’t figure out what Mo Hua was scheming inside his little head and felt somewhat uneasy. During the break, he finally couldn’t help asking:

“Ahem, Mo Hua, is there something you need?”

Mo Hua whispered, “Master Chen, don’t you think that the fire in this Artifact Furnace is a bit small?”

Master Chen glanced at the Artifact Furnace, “This… It is indeed a little smaller than before…”

“Do you know why?”

“It might… be because of the formation…”

“Ah, as expected of Master Chen, such a keen insight!” Mo Hua praised without any real compliment, then whispered again, “Don’t you want the fire to be larger?”

“Larger?”

“Yes, larger!”

Master Chen’s eyebrows twitched, “You’re not thinking of dismantling my furnace and drawing the formation all over again, are you!”

Mo Hua gave a thumbs-up, “As expected of Master Chen, right on the mark!”

Master Chen shook his head like a rattle-drum, “No good, no good, this is the tool that feeds us, it can’t just be dismantled whenever, and if it’s dismantled and not drawn properly, all my apprentices will be left cold and hungry.”

After saying this, he was afraid of hurting little Mo Hua’s self-esteem, so he added:

“I’m not saying that you’re not skilled enough in formations, brother. Honestly, I’ve lived to this age and have never seen a young lad with a talent like yours, but this Artifact Furnace really shouldn’t be dismantled so casually. If it gets messed up, I truly won’t have the spirit stones to buy another one.”

Mo Hua waved his hand, “You can relax, I’m very familiar with this formation, it won’t get messed up.”

Master Chen’s face turned stern, and he refused to agree.

Mo Hua then said, “Think about it – if the Artifact Furnace had a bigger fire, wouldn’t the artifact refining be faster? Then Brother Dazhu and the others would learn quicker, apprentice faster, and earn more spirit stones. To do the job well, one must first sharpen the tools!”

Master Chen thought about it and felt there was some reason in it, but his expression was still hesitant.

Mo Hua played his trump card, “I won’t charge you spirit stones, I’ll help you draw it for free!”

Master Chen instantly found it hard to refuse.

It cost quite a few spirit stones to have another Formation Master repair the formation of the Artifact Furnace, let alone drawing a new one from scratch. The risk seemed worth taking.

“Then about the Spiritual Ink needed to draw the formation…” Master Chen looked at Mo Hua.

Mo Hua also looked silently back at Master Chen, the implication clear:

I’m helping you draw the formation for free, and you want me to provide my own Spiritual Ink?

Master Chen gave an embarrassed chuckle, bit the bullet, and called out, “Dazhu, go find Old Sun and have him bring a few bottles of top-quality Spiritual Ink, fire-series, and don’t water it down!”

Dazhu scratched his head and said, “Master, what about the spirit stones?”

“Put it on the tab!”

Dazhu seemed troubled. “Old Sun is really stingy.”

“Just tell him the artifact furnace is broken, and if he doesn’t provide the spiritual ink, we won’t be able to fix the furnace, and the batch of spiritual artifacts he wants will have to wait until next year.”

“Ah!”

Dazhu agreed with a sound and ran off in a flash.

Master Chen was decisive in his actions. With a grand gesture, he commanded his disciples, “Stop refining, dismantle the furnace!”

The disciples looked at each other, but as Master Chen was known for sticking to his word, they did not dare to delay. Several disciples extinguished the furnace fire, poured some cold water to cool it down, and after the residual heat had dissipated and the furnace had cooled, they dismantled the refining furnace, removing the inner furnace to reveal the formation engraved inside.

The formation was a Melting Fire Formation, which contained five formation patterns, still the handiwork of Mo Hua from before. It looked somewhat familiar at this moment.

Mo Hua took out the Spiritual Dissipation Liquid, instructing Master Chen’s apprentices to wipe the refining furnace with it, which would erase the previously drawn formation.

The power of the Melting Fire Formation was small for two reasons: first, this type of formation only included five formation patterns and thus had limited power; second, Mo Hua had copied the formation diagram hastily using inferior quality spiritual ink, which conducted spiritual power poorly.

Spiritual Dissipation Liquid could remove spiritual ink and was a formula Mo Hua learned from Bai Zixi. In the world of Tao cultivation, when drawing formations, either brand new or repairs of old ones were required, and opportunities to erase and redraw them were rare, so the liquid wasn’t frequently used.

It was available for sale in Tongxian City, but it was expensive. Mo Hua was reluctant to buy it and instead asked Bai Zixi for the formula for the spiritual liquid. The Bai Family was a noble clan with profound familial knowledge; there were dozens of different formulas for the Spiritual Dissipation Liquid, ranging from first-grade to fifth-grade.

Bai Zixi chose a formula for Mo Hua that was suitable for first-grade formations and below, and it had cheap ingredients, some of which could even be found in the mountains. Mo Hua was grateful and rewarded him with hawthorn cakes made by his mother.

The formation inside the refining furnace began to fade away as it was wiped with the Spiritual Dissipation Liquid.

It was the first time Master Chen had seen something that could so cleanly erase a formation. He felt that Mo Hua, being a student of formation, was very professional, which somewhat relieved him.

Soon after, Dazhu returned, holding several bottles of spiritual ink.

“It’s not diluted, is it?” Master Chen asked.

“Rest assured, Master, I kept watch; I didn’t give him the chance to add water. Old Sun looked so pained, as if what I was asking for wasn’t ink but his blood,” Dazhu chuckled.

“His blood might not actually be more expensive than this spiritual ink,” Master Chen handed the spiritual ink to Mo Hua, looking somewhat unwilling to part with it. “Little brother, do you think this spiritual ink is suitable?”

Mo Hua held it in his hand and gave it a shake. The spiritual ink flowed smoothly and had the right consistency. Upon opening the bottle, a faint scent of pine wafted out and the fishy smell of monster blood was very faint, while the ink gleamed with a lustrous red.

This was the first time Mo Hua had seen such good quality spiritual ink. When drawing formations himself, to save money, he usually made do with whatever was available. Now, looking at the sparkling ink in the bottle, he couldn’t help but think that you get what you pay for.

Of course, not to lose face as a named disciple of Mr. Zhuang, Mo Hua still acted as if he were accustomed to such quality, saying with a casual and composed tone, “It’s fine, usable.”

Master Chen was astounded, thinking, “Is this the level of discernment for those studying formations nowadays, where even such high-quality spiritual ink is just ‘fine’…”

Mo Hua spread the Formation Diagram on the ground, and a group of apprentices gathered around to watch.

Master Chen didn’t understand much, but he still joined in curiously to take a peek.

As he watched, he realized something was amiss. Although he didn’t understand formations, he could still count.

One, two, three, four, five… six!

Six formation patterns!

He remembered that the furnace’s Melting Fire Formation had five formation patterns, so why was there now an extra one?