Chapter 13: The Lamp
Chapter 13: The Lamp
In the days that followed, Mo Hua spent all his time inside, painting the Ming Huo Formation. Only emerging from his room for meals.
After five days, Mo Hua had used up all ten sets of materials, but unfortunately, he had only successfully painted eight copies of the formation. One failure was due to carelessness, and the other was due to a brush stroke error that he had not noticed before.
The Ming Huo Formation was already the simplest and most basic formation in the cultivation world, but even after practicing it so many times, Mo Hua still made mistakes on occasion, even repeating some errors from the past.
"Formation techniques are indeed profound and extensive, one must not be sloppy!" Mo Hua reminded himself.
Mo Hua took the opportunity to deliver the successfully painted formations to the plump manager of Youyuan Studio.
The manager was slightly more satisfied this time, feeling that Mo Hua's... elder brother's attitude was diligent and his brushwork was much more skilled than before. He was happy to continue the cooperation and gave Mo Hua six spirit stones, along with another ten sets of materials.
Mo Hua had already earned twelve spirit stones, and at this rate, he would be able to complete another batch before the year's end, earning at least six more spirit stones.
Mo Hua painted with even greater care, becoming more adept at the Ming Huo Formation, and his spiritual sense had also improved significantly. He no longer needed to exhaust his spiritual sense to complete a single Ming Huo Formation, greatly reducing the time required for painting formations.
A few days later, after finishing his dinner, Mo Hua was just about to return to his room when he heard a knock on the door.
Mo Hua opened the door and found two people standing outside.
One was a young boy, dressed in clean and tidy robes, with a seemingly high level of cultivation and very polite manners.
The other was a middle-aged cultivator with a few shallow knife scars on his face. His eyes were calm, but there was a sharp glint in them as he looked around. His spiritual power was clearly much stronger, indicating that he was at least a cultivator at the eighth or ninth layer of Qi Refinement.
"Young one, does a Brother Mo Shan live here?"
"Are you looking for my father?" Mo Hua asked, tilting his little head.
The middle-aged cultivator's gaze softened as he looked at Mo Hua, "You must be Mo Hua!"
Mo Shan also came out to greet them, bowing and saying, "Brother Ji!"
The middle-aged cultivator returned the bow, "Brother Mo, it's rude to disturb you so late. My son and I have been traveling day and night from Heishan City, and we've just arrived."
"Do you have a place to stay?"
"Yes, I have a friend from my father's generation who I plan to visit and stay with temporarily. I came to find you to discuss the matter we spoke about before..."
"Please come in."
Mo Shan invited them in, and Liu Ruhua cleared the table and served tea. Mo Shan asked them to sit down and then introduced them to Mo Hua, "This is your Uncle Ji, named Qing Bai, and this is your Cousin Ji, his name is Li."
Mo Hua greeted them formally, "Greetings, Uncle Ji, Cousin Ji."
Ji Qingbai smiled and nodded, intending to compliment Mo Hua, but upon seeing Mo Shan's tall and robust figure, and his sharp brows, and then looking at Mo Hua, who was standing beside him, fair-skinned and with a gentle demeanor, he found himself unable to utter the common praise, "Like father, like son."
Usually, when a father is tall and robust, the son is also sturdy and healthy, and this phrase would be appropriate.
But as a demon hunter, Ji Qingbai only knew how to fight and kill demon beasts. When it came to complimenting people's children, he usually fell back on the generic "like father, like son." However, that phrase didn't seem fitting in this situation, and he was momentarily at a loss for words.
"This child..." Ji Qingbai hesitated for a moment before finally saying, "He's truly remarkable!"
To avoid sounding insincere, Ji Qingbai added, "He has a handsome appearance and resembles Brother Mo. His eyebrows and eyes are gentle, and his temperament is similar to your mother's. He's well-mannered and intelligent, and I've never seen such a good-looking child."
Mo Shan didn't think too much about it; he was just happy to hear others praise Mo Hua.
After some small talk, Mo Shan said to Mo Hua, "Your father and Uncle Ji have some matters to discuss. Why don't you head back to your room and play?"
"Okay!"
Mo Hua bowed to Ji Qingbai and then returned to his room.
"Ji Qingbai is probably here to discuss hunting demons in the inner mountains of Great Black Mountain after the new year..."
The inner mountains must be very dangerous...
Mo Hua sighed again. These weren't things he could worry about right now. With only the second layer of Qi Refinement, he couldn't practice body refinement or martial arts. He hadn't even chosen a cultivation technique yet, nor did he know any spells. He couldn't be of much help.
It was better to focus on formation techniques.
Mo Hua took out his paper and brush, poured ink into the ink stone, and began to concentrate on drawing formations, hoping to complete a full Ming Huo Formation before falling asleep and entering his sea of consciousness.
He dipped his brush in the ink and began to draw, the light red ink flowing from the tip of his brush as he traced one formation line after another.
The Ming Huo Formation was already deeply ingrained in his memory, and Mo Hua found it effortless to draw.
After a few incense sticks' worth of time, the flame in the lamp suddenly flickered and went out, plunging the room into darkness.
Was the lamp broken?
Mo Hua paused, borrowing the light from the main room to examine the lamp in his hand. "Could it be that I've used it for too long?" he muttered to himself.
It would be a long time before dawn, and Mo Hua wanted to practice drawing formations for a while longer.
What should he do now?
Holding the lamp, Mo Hua walked to the door and peered through the crack. He could see Mo Shan and Ji Qingbai still chatting in the main room.
Not wanting to disturb his father at this time, Mo Hua was just about to retreat when he heard Mo Shan ask, "Hua'er, is something the matter?"
Mo Hua realized that he had been spotted.
With Mo Shan's cultivation at the eighth layer of Qi Refinement, and Ji Qingbai's likely even higher, there was no way Mo Hua could hide his actions from their spiritual sense by just peeking through the door crack.
"Father, the lamp is broken," Mo Hua said.
Mo Shan waved his hand. "Bring it here and let me see."
Mo Hua handed the lamp over.
Mo Shan took the lamp, twisted the base forcefully, and opened it to take a look. "You've been using it for a long time," he said. "The formation inside has faded. I'll buy you a new one tomorrow, so go to sleep early tonight."
"Formation?" Mo Hua's eyes lit up. "Father, let me see."
Mo Shan was slightly taken aback but handed the lamp to Mo Hua.
Mo Hua took the lamp and noticed that the formation on the base looked somewhat familiar. It resembled the Ming Huo Formation, but it was clearly more crude and only had two lines.
It was probably a hastily drawn Ming Huo Formation to cut costs.
Mo Hua was very familiar with the Ming Huo Formation.
"Father, wait," he said.
Mo Hua ran back to his room and fetched his brush and ink. He traced over the faded formation on the base, making a few adjustments, and then examined his work. Satisfied, he made a few more changes in another spot.
Mo Shan and Ji Qingbai fell silent, watching intently from the side.
After a while, Mo Hua finished. "Father, try it now."
Mo Shan took the lamp, screwed the base back on, and fiddled with the small mechanism on the lamp. The lamp ignited once more, illuminating the room with a brighter light.
"Is it fixed?" Mo Shan asked, a hint of surprise in his voice. He then ruffled Mo Hua's hair affectionately. "Good job. Take it back and remember to rest early. Don't stay up too late."
"Okay, Father, Uncle Ji. Continue your chat. I'll head back to my room," Mo Hua said as he grabbed the lamp and scurried back inside.
Mo Shan turned to Ji Qingbai. "Sorry, Brother Ji. Let's continue."
However, Ji Qingbai seemed to be lost in thought, his gaze fixed on the spot where Mo Hua had disappeared. After a long pause, he finally spoke, "Mo Hua is probably only at the second layer of Qi Refinement, right?"
(End of Chapter)
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