Immortality Through Array Formations

Mr. Zhuang passed the Jade Slip of Tianyan Jue to Mo Hua:

“The Jade Slip for transmitting ancient cultivation techniques is a bit special, only when your cultivation reaches a certain realm can your divine sense inspect the cultivation techniques that follow. There are no restrictions on the techniques from the Qi Refinement Realm, but for the techniques from the Foundation Establishment Stage, only those who have cultivated the Tianyan Jue and reached the realm of Foundation Establishment can see them.”

“Most ancient cultivation techniques come with only one slip per technique. If the Jade Slip is lost, the technique is essentially lost as well. Even if there are several Jade Slips for some techniques, it is not certain that you can find them. The cultivation world is vast; looking for an obscure Jade Slip of an ancient technique is like looking for a needle in a haystack. Moreover, in my lifetime, I have only seen this one of the Tianyan Jue.”

“Therefore, you must take good care of this Jade Slip and never lose it!”

Mo Hua solemnly received the Jade Slip, feeling its weight increase in his hand, but his heart couldn’t help but leap with joy.

This is a genuine cultivation technique; by learning it, he would truly be considered a cultivator. He had officially taken the first step on the vast and boundless path of cultivation.

Mo Hua shared the news of Mr. Zhuang teaching him the cultivation technique with his parents.

Mo Shan was very happy. Although the spiritual power cultivated from this technique wasn’t abundant, the phrase “suitable only for Formation Masters,” showed it was extraordinary. Very few true Formation Masters ever emerged among the Loose Cultivators of Tongxian City.

Moreover, the technique was given by the profound and unfathomable Mr. Zhuang; naturally, it is incredibly precious, far superior to those techniques passed down among Loose Cultivators.

Knowing that Mr. Zhuang didn’t care much about common items like Spirit Stones, Mo Shan thought about how Mr. Zhuang had finished all the meat and wine that Mo Hua had delivered before, which must mean it suited the gentleman’s taste.

The next day, before dawn, Mo Shan went into the mountains in the dark. He hunted several Monster Beasts and, three days later, came down from the mountain carrying a large bundle. Inside the bundle was the most tender meat from the loin of various bovine and ovine Monster Beasts, so fresh that he didn’t even put it in a Storage Bag.

Liu Ruhua cleaned the meat and prepared it in various ways: smoked, fried, or stewed in sauce, creating a range of spicy and savory flavors, garnished with some green spices, and neatly placed in a food box.

She also took out several jugs of variously fragrant fruit wines that they made at home, along with a few boxes of freshly roasted, fragrant pine nuts, for Mo Hua to take up the mountain. She instructed Mo Hua to convey words of thanks like “not to disturb the gentleman in his ascetic cultivation, just to express gratitude.”

Mr. Zhuang accepted the food box without saying much, but he looked very pleased. Sitting in the bamboo pavilion, he ate a piece of meat and drank a cup of clear wine, enjoying it along with the breeze and mountain scenery.

Old Kui was quite satisfied with the pine nuts; the few boxes had just been handed over when they disappeared in front of Mo Hua’s eyes. Old Kui had tucked them away somewhere, not leaving any for Mr. Zhuang.

Mo Hua also brought some to the Bai siblings to express his thanks.

Bai Zixi ate two slices of meat and drank a bit more sweet osmanthus rice wine, her cheeks flushed red and her eyes brightly shining, like stars twinkling in the sky.

Bai Zisheng was not shy at all, expressing his preference for spicy food by devouring it with big bites, sweating profusely but still enjoying it immensely.

Seeing his way of eating, Mo Hua couldn’t help asking, “You’re not short of meat on a regular basis, are you?”

“That you do not understand,” Bai Zisheng said: “What I usually eat is the meat of Spirit Beasts, which is delicate but lacks texture, and since it’s so rich in spiritual energy, it doesn’t have much flavor.”

Mo Hua felt his words were somewhat infuriating; he had hardly ever eaten the meat of Spirit Beasts, except for what his mother cooked. The most memorable for him was still the Colorful Chicken that Da’hu and the others stole from an Elder of Tongxian Gate, which even got burnt.

After Bai Zisheng had his fill of food and drink, he inquired about Mo Hua’s cultivation technique.

Mo Hua recounted Mr. Zhuang’s transmission of the cultivation technique.

Bai Zisheng was slightly envious, “The gentleman is really good to you, even though the spiritual power from this technique is rather weak.”

“There’s nothing that can be done about it; things in life hardly ever go perfectly according to one’s wishes. One always has to make choices.”

Bai Zisheng curled his lips, “You’re not old, but you speak as if you are an old fellow.”

“Does having weak spiritual power really make a big difference?”

Mo Hua suddenly felt concerned about it again.

“That goes without saying,” Bai Zisheng spoke, “Cultivators, those who follow the path of cultivation, naturally focus on cultivating spiritual power. If your spiritual power is weak, you’ll be inferior to others wherever you go.”

Bai Zisheng gave an example, “Suppose you have to fight someone; they have a hundred cycles of spiritual power, while you only have fifty. If you clash head-on, when they still have fifty cycles of spiritual power left, you’d have already exhausted yours, naturally leaving you at their mercy.”

“Cultivators need to use spiritual power for everything, not just for sparring or casting spells but also for artifact refining, alchemy, and even for handling storage chests at the Spiritual Transport Wharf.”

“If you refine one spiritual artifact, others can refine two; if you refine one batch of pills, others can refine two; if you carry ten chests for half a day, others can carry twenty, earning twice the spirit stones you do. How can you compete with others like that?”

“Then if I become a Formation Master, it’s okay if my spiritual power is a bit weaker, right?” Mo Hua was somewhat unsure of himself.

“Hmm… that is also true,” Bai Zisheng nodded, “The most troublesome aspect for a Formation Master is the consumption of divine sense, which is much greater than that of spiritual power. When drawing formations, the divine sense is often exhausted long before the spiritual power. So a lower level of spiritual power doesn’t affect your ability to be a Formation Master.”

Mo Hua breathed a sigh of relief.

Bai Zisheng patted Mo Hua’s shoulder, “However, you don’t need to worry about that either. Although your spiritual power is low, mine is high. Just call me Big Brother, and I’ll look after you. If anyone bullies you, I’ll take care of them for you.”

“Forget it.”

Bai Zisheng made a second attempt, “Then just give me beef to eat every day, and I’ll look after you as well.”

“You could buy it yourself.”

“Aunt Xue won’t allow me to eat just anything. She also told me to eat less of things that don’t contain spiritual energy.”

“Oh.”

“What do you mean, oh? I’m doing this to give you face…” Bai Zisheng said.

Mo Hua ignored him, and Bai Zisheng kept grumbling while Bai Zixi watched them silently, taking another small sip of the sweet fermented rice.

In the following days, Mo Hua gave up on the Breathing Technique and officially started cultivating according to the meridian chart and breathing methods described in Tianyan Jue.

After cultivating a few times, Mo Hua could clearly feel the difference.

The speed of assimilation was faster, the spiritual power refined was purer, and the meridians throughout his body felt more unobstructed.

The only issue was that after cultivation, there was nothing special about the spiritual power.

Mo Hua asked Da’hu, who cultivated the Fire-series Fierce Tiger Jue. After cultivation, Da’hu’s spiritual power would have a slight burning sensation, and any fire-series spells or physical techniques he practiced in the future would be more powerful.

Shuanghu cultivated the Solid Foundation Skill, which harmonized spiritual energy with blood qi after cultivation, strengthening the body when spiritual power circulated. Mo Hua had forgotten which cultivation technique Sanhu practiced, but after cultivation, his spiritual power also underwent some special changes.

Only Mo Hua’s spiritual power seemed to have no fundamental change compared to before.

The cycles of spiritual power refined through Tianyan Jue were also standard.

Compared with clan disciples like the Bai siblings, it certainly couldn’t match up, but compared to the average Qi Cultivation Loose Practitioner, it was slightly above average—not great, but acceptable.

Moreover, the only unique aspect of this cultivation technique might be that it consumed more divine sense during practice, several times more than the basic Breathing Technique.

However, the divine sense consumed during practice of the Breathing Technique, or any general cultivation technique, was already quite low, and even if it were several times higher, it would scarcely amount to anything—it wouldn’t even be enough to draw a single formation.

But Mo Hua never expected this technique to have anything particularly special about it.

For Mo Hua, the best cultivation technique was the one that saved spirit stones.