Chapter 378: The Town
Chapter 378: The Town
Mo Hua returned to his room and continued practicing the Reverse Spirit Formation.
As expected, he felt that the growth of his spiritual sense had slowed down and wasn't as fast as before.
"Looks like I need to find more challenging formations to study," Mo Hua thought to himself.
After practicing for a while longer until his spiritual energy was depleted, Mo Hua took a short break before opening his storage bag once again.
With the upcoming journey, he wanted to take inventory of his possessions, unsure of what lay ahead.
First were the Spirit Stones.
Mo Hua carried over a thousand Spirit Stones with him at all times.
There were also several thousand more stored in the carriage, sealed away using a formation and watched over by Mr. Zhuang.
These Spirit Stones were intended for Mo Hua's Foundation Establishment.
Some were earned by him, while others were saved by his parents, and a portion was given by Elder Yu.
At least until the Foundation Establishment, they should suffice.
Additionally, he possessed a first-grade spiritual artifact, the Thousand Jun Rod.
Mo Hua had asked Master Chen to reforge this rod, making it more durable. He had also reinforced it with a layer of the Thousand Jun Recovery Formation, making it even more effective as a blunt weapon.
Hanging from Mo Hua's neck was a Dan Jade, a gift from Old Man Feng.
It exuded a faint warmth and had a calming effect, bringing peace to the mind.
Even though Old Man Feng had dismissed the notion of "merit," this Dan Jade seemed to embody his merit from healing and saving lives, always glowing with a gentle radiance.
Every time Mo Hua looked at it, he felt it was imbued with a great deal of kindness.
In addition to the Dan Jade, Mo Hua also wore a Beast Hunting Order around his neck.
This order was given to him by Elder Yu, and every Beast Hunter possessed one.
However, Mo Hua noticed that his seemed a little different.
Other Beast Hunters would have a thin red bloodline appear on their order after killing a demonic beast.
But after Mo Hua killed Feng Wei using the grand formation, a bloodline also appeared on his order.
However, this bloodline was half a finger wide and a faint golden color.
When Mo Hua asked Elder Yu about it, he was equally puzzled, claiming he had never seen or heard of such a thing, not even in the Beast Hunter's literature.
Faint golden bloodline...
Mo Hua decided to set it aside for the moment, unsure of its significance.
Whether the bloodline on the Beast Hunting Order was red or golden, it didn't seem to make much difference at the moment, nor did it provide any immediate benefits. He could figure it out later when he had more time.
The bronze waist card from the Daoting Si was also kept in Mo Hua's storage bag.
According to Zhou, he had applied to the higher-ups and allocated a significant amount of merit into this waist card.
Killing Feng Wei in Tongxian Town was considered a great achievement for the local Daoting Si.
Zhou, being in the later years of his career, was delighted to have obtained such an unexpected merit in his old age.
And much of this merit was thanks to Mo Hua.
Due to Mo Hua's unique identity as a thirteen-year-old first-grade master formationist, Zhou didn't report his true identity to the Daoting Si, but instead secretly gave Mo Hua some extra benefits.
These benefits were the merits stored in the bronze waist card.
In the future, if Mo Hua needed it, he could use these merits to exchange for Spirit Stones or spiritual objects, providing him with resources in times of need.
As for the exact amount of merit and what it could be exchanged for, Mo Hua hadn't tried to redeem anything yet, so he didn't know the specifics. But he assumed it wouldn't be a small amount.
Mo Hua patted the waist card, feeling much more relieved.
However, the most important item he possessed was the first-grade formation master's ring.
Made of white jade and gold, it had a simple yet noble appearance.
This ring was called the Tian Shu Ring, forged by the Daoting Tian Shu Pavilion and given to formation masters who had passed their grading assessment.
The ring was engraved with nine star patterns, each with three star traces, symbolizing the nine grades of formations, with three tiers in each grade.
Currently, only one star was lit up on Mo Hua's Tianxiu Ring, indicating that he was recognized by the Tianxiu Pavilion as a first-grade formation master.
The Tian Axis Ring served not only as proof of a formation master's identity but also as a small storage ring.
Similar to a storage bag, it could hold items, but with a smaller space, meant only for confidential and valuable objects.
Mo Hua kept the Tian Yan manual and some rare formation charts inside the Tian Shu Ring. He tied it with a string and hung it around his neck, just like the Dan Jade.
He had originally intended to wear it on his finger, but his hands were too small, and the ring could only fit his thumb, resembling a thumb ring.
Fearing that he might lose it, Mo Hua decided to string it and hang it around his neck.
Now, with three items hanging from his neck, Mo Hua was glad they weren't too heavy, so wearing them wasn't burdensome.
After taking inventory of his possessions, Mo Hua meditated and then continued drawing formations.
Dinner was at the inn, and the group ordered a few simple dishes. The food was neither delicious nor unpleasant, not as good as Mo Hua's cooking.
After dinner, they rested at the inn for the night and prepared to set off again the next day.
Before departing, Mo Hua affectionately hugged Da Bai's neck and patted its back, saying, "It's time to trouble you again."
Da Bai hummed a few times and rubbed its head against Mo Hua's small face.
The group set off, passing through the city gates and onto the main road.
After some time, they reached a mountain path, enclosed by towering peaks on both sides, with little sign of other travelers aside from the occasional sound of horse hooves.
After traveling for most of the day, they approached a small town.
Mo Hua looked up and saw the town's sign from a distance:
Qianjia Town.
The town came into view, bustling with people, most of whom were obviously scattered cultivators, their clothes bearing signs of hard labor.
In the distance, beyond the town, lay a vast expanse of spiritual fields.
Numerous cultivators toiled in these fields, tending to the spiritual crops or medicinal herbs that sustained their cultivation.
Mo Hua recalled what his father, Mo Shan, had told him about the different paths of cultivation, including the "Spirit Planters" who specialized in cultivating spiritual plants and herbs, often referred to as "Spirit Farmers."
These cultivators working in the fields were likely the Spirit Farmers his father had mentioned.
Old Man Gui halted the carriage.
Mr. Zhuang drew back the curtain and glanced at the town, nodding as he said, "We'll be staying here for a while."
Mo Hua, White Victory, and White Radiance exchanged curious glances, unsure why they were stopping in this town.
Mo Hua recalled something Mr. Zhuang had once said, and his eyes lit up as he asked, "Master, is there an ultimate formation in this town?"
Mr. Zhuang nodded slightly.
Mo Hua studied the town with renewed interest.
The buildings were short and dilapidated, with broken bricks and stones, indicating that most of the cultivators here led difficult lives.
There was one lavish mansion that stood out, likely belonging to the wealthiest family in the area.
This town seemed no different from the others they had passed through.
Where there was poverty, there would also be wealth, and where there was wealth, there would inevitably be poverty.
The buildings in the town were adorned with formations, but they were mostly simplistic, bearing only a few formation lines.
Even the grand mansion had a formation that Mo Hua could easily decipher.
How could such a humble town possess an ultimate formation? Mo Hua was perplexed and asked Mr. Zhuang, "Master, how do you know that there's an ultimate formation here?"
Mr. Zhuang replied with an air of mystery, "I saw it."
Mo Hua probed further, "How did you see it?"
He was truly curious about the answer.
Mr. Zhuang turned to Mo Hua and explained gently, "Take a guess."
Mo Hua furrowed his brows.
The fact that Mr. Zhuang asked him to guess instead of simply telling him meant that it was something Mo Hua should already know.
Mo Hua looked at the town once more.
There were no obvious formation lines visible, so Mr. Zhuang couldn't have seen a specific formation.
Additionally, they had only stopped by this town during their journey, indicating that Mr. Zhuang hadn't known about the ultimate formation beforehand.
Something must have caught his attention, prompting this unexpected detour.
But what had he seen?
Or rather, what had he sensed?
Mo Hua released his spiritual sense, and the world around him transformed into a blur of colors as he perceived the various spiritual energies.
After a moment, his eyes lit up as he tentatively asked, "Did you deduce it through spiritual sense calculations?"
Since there were no visible formation lines, Mr. Zhuang must have inferred the presence of the formation by sensing and analyzing the spiritual energies, thus determining the strength of the formation's spiritual sense and concluding that there was a lost ultimate formation nearby.
Mo Hua faintly sensed some traces of formation spiritual energies, but they were too distant and subtle for him to calculate accurately, so he could only rely on his intuition.
Mr. Zhuang nodded in approval, "Indeed."
He then patiently elaborated, "Ultimate formations are different from ordinary formations. They involve a more subtle, essential, and advanced manipulation of spiritual energies."
"The Reverse Spirit Formation reverses spiritual energies, the Grand Formation accumulates them, and other ultimate formations also have their unique aspects."
"The world is ever-changing, and with time, landscapes transform and phenomena evolve."
"Some ultimate formations are buried underground, sealed within ancient ruins, or hidden in the corners of obscure towns, quietly operating unnoticed by the world..."
"You can't find traces of formations just by looking with your eyes."
"Eyes can deceive, but spiritual sense cannot; appearances can be misleading, but the essence of spiritual energies never lies."
"That's why you must rely on your spiritual sense to perceive, calculate within your consciousness, and through your understanding of formations and spiritual energy flow, determine if there is a lost formation hidden here..."
Mo Hua's eyes widened as he finally understood, nodding vigorously.
Spiritual sense perception, spiritual energy calculations, formation line deduction, and the search for ultimate formations...
Mr. Zhuang's guidance had helped him grasp the concept.
White Victory and White Radiance, however, exchanged bewildered glances, having no idea what Mo Hua and Mr. Zhuang were talking about.
(End of Chapter)
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