Chapter 45: Astonishment
Chapter 45: Astonishment
The next day, Mister Zhuang changed his teaching style. He only taught Mo Hua array formations at the Qi Refining stage and supplemented them with various arrays, allowing Mo Hua to learn progressively.
This approach resembled Yan Jiao Shi's teaching method, but Mister Zhuang's cultivation realm was likely much higher, resulting in a broader perspective, more comprehensive details, and a clearer structure.
Mo Hua secretly felt sorry for Yan Jiao Shi. If not for his cultivation limitations, Yan Jiao Shi might have been an extraordinary instructor. At the very least, in terms of array formation heritage and educational philosophy, Yan Jiao Shi shared similarities with the highly accomplished Mister Zhuang.
The abstruse array theories that Mister Zhuang had taught previously gave Mo Hua a headache.
Mo Hua had never encountered some of these theories before, so he was clueless and could only resort to rote memorization. But even with his exceptional memory, these abstract and hollow concepts were challenging to retain. Often, he would forget the earlier parts after learning the latter parts, and when he reviewed the earlier content, he would forget the latter. As a result, his progress was slow.
It was no wonder that the major aristocratic families could stand firm in the cultivation world for tens of thousands of years, as they considered these challenging concepts to be the foundation for studying arrays.
There was simply too vast a gap between ordinary loose cultivators and aristocratic families in terms of heritage and tradition, to the extent that there was almost a complete absence of array masters among ordinary loose cultivators.
Mo Hua sighed; it was pointless to compare himself to others. He could only strive to do better. With this self-admonition, he calmed himself and focused on learning arrays in the manner taught by Mister Zhuang.
Starting from the Qi Refining stage, Mo Hua focused primarily on array drawing, with array theories as a supplement. This approach allowed him to learn much faster.
Due to Mo Hua's relentless practice of drawing arrays day and night—on the Dao stele at night and on paper during the day, occasionally even scratching them onto the ground with a piece of grass when he had nothing else to do—his amount of array practice might surpass that of some late-stage Qi Refining array masters.
Therefore, after Mister Zhuang adjusted his teaching style, Mo Hua learned quickly. When it was time for him to draw arrays personally after finishing the theories, his progress became even faster.
Mister Zhuang first had Mo Hua relearn several arrays containing five path array patterns, including some five-element attribute arrays that Mo Hua had never seen before. Even the pens and ink for the arrays had been prepared by Gui Lao.
Mo Hua learned eagerly, drawing the arrays persistently.
During the day, he practiced arrays in Mister Zhuang's leisure residence, and at night, he continued his practice in his sea of consciousness on the Dao stele in his dreams. The five-path array pattern arrays were not particularly challenging for Mo Hua, and he could usually master one after familiarizing himself with it for a few days.
Next was the Fixed Water Array, an array with six path array patterns. Previously, Mo Hua had been limited by his spiritual sense and couldn't draw the complete array, but now, after more than half a month of daily array practice, his spiritual sense had grown significantly. Although it was still a bit of a stretch, he could now draw the Fixed Water Array, which contained six path array patterns, in its entirety.
After Mo Hua finished drawing the Fixed Water Array, Mister Zhuang taught him several new arrays, such as the Thousand Jun Array, the Quicksand Array, the Little Cloud and Rain Array, and so on. With the support of his spiritual sense and his relentless day and night practice, Mo Hua mastered them all within half a month.
Mister Zhuang was quite satisfied, pleased with both Mo Hua's progress and his temperament.
Not every child of Mo Hua's age had the focus to sit still and study arrays daily.
However, in private, Mister Zhuang still felt a slight regret. He confided in Gui Lao, "Mo Hua's aptitude is even better than I expected, but it's a pity that he comes from a loose cultivator background and lacks a heritage of array formations. His foundation is lacking in many ways, or else he might not be much worse than the pride of those major aristocratic families..."
"What's so great about the pride of heaven?" Gui Lao asked.
Mister Zhuang fell silent for a moment.
Gui Lao gazed at him silently. His voice was flat and indifferent, yet there was an underlying hint of mockery in his words. "Weren't you the pride of heaven back then? And how many of the disciples you took in before weren't the pride of heaven? What happened to them in the end? Do I even need to mention how pitiful your current state is..."
Mister Zhuang sighed, displeased. "If I die prematurely, it will surely be because you annoyed me to death!"
Gui Lao remained unmoved. "Life and death are predetermined. Your words indicate that your understanding of the Dao of Heaven is still superficial."
Mister Zhuang lay down on the recliner, speaking with profound meaning. "Heaven and earth are unkind, and all things are like dogs. If a person can truly understand the Dao of Heaven, can they still be considered human?"
After Mo Hua finished studying the formations with six-path array patterns, Mister Zhuang intended to teach him formations with seven-path array patterns. However, he discovered something rather astonishing—Mo Hua's spiritual sense had been increasing at a rapid pace.
When Mister Zhuang first met Mo Hua, his spiritual sense was insufficient to draw the six-path array patterns. Now, after a month, not only could his spiritual sense support him in drawing a complete formation with six-path array patterns, but he could also draw six and a half paths of the seven-path array patterns.
In the span of a month, Mo Hua's spiritual power had improved only slightly, but his spiritual sense had grown swiftly.
Mister Zhuang furrowed his brows slightly, sensing that something was amiss.
On this day, as Mo Hua was studying formations with seven-path array patterns, Mister Zhuang suddenly asked, "Mo Hua, do you know of any meditation techniques?"
Mo Hua was taken aback, replying, "I have never heard of it, Master."
"Is that so?" Mister Zhuang tapped his fingers on the table and fell into thought before asking again, "Then, have you ever seen any peculiar images or patterns that draw your spiritual sense in, causing it to immerse itself within them?"
Mo Hua thought for a moment and shook his head.
The most bizarre thing he had ever seen was the Dao stele in his mind, but there were no patterns or obvious lines on it that would cause his spiritual sense to become immersed.
Mister Zhuang remained silent for a moment before speaking again. "You must have noticed that your spiritual sense is increasing at a faster rate than others."
Mo Hua nodded. "I practice drawing formations during the day, and I even dream about practicing them at night. Moreover, since drawing formations in my dreams doesn't consume my spiritual sense, my spiritual sense gradually strengthens as I continue this day after day."
Although he didn't mention the Dao stele, everything else he said was true.
Mo Hua wasn't entirely sure if the enhancement of his spiritual sense was due to the Dao stele or simply the result of his relentless practice of drawing formations.
So he asked, "Master, will my spiritual sense continue to strengthen as long as I keep drawing formations?"
Mister Zhuang was stumped by the question.
Drawing formations constantly consumed spiritual sense, but it also trained the sea of consciousness. Over time, one's spiritual sense would naturally strengthen.
However, the typical approach in the cultivation world was to first find ways to enhance one's spiritual sense and then proceed to learn formations.
Relying on drawing formations to enhance one's spiritual sense was an extremely slow process, and it could easily lead to spiritual sense depletion and sea of consciousness damage, resulting in irreversible consequences.
Hence, few cultivators would consider relying on such a rudimentary and slow method that also carried a significant risk to enhance their spiritual sense.
Mister Zhuang felt that the matter wasn't so straightforward, and he looked at Mo Hua with a hint of doubt. But when he met Mo Hua's gaze, he saw a pair of clear eyes that were unusually sincere and forthright.
Mister Zhuang had taught many disciples, and although he had seen admiration, fear, and cunning in their eyes, he had never encountered such honesty. He couldn't help but laugh and say, "Never mind."
"Do you know about meditation techniques?" Mister Zhuang asked again.
Mo Hua shook his head once more.
"Meditation techniques allow cultivators to enter a meditative state in a short period, facilitating faster recovery of spiritual sense. This isn't something a cultivator of your level should be learning, but you're a special case, so you can start learning it now."
Mo Hua didn't understand what Mister Zhuang meant by "special," but he was delighted to learn something new. "Thank you, Master."
"However, there's one thing you must remember," Mister Zhuang said, his expression turning solemn. "If anyone asks why your spiritual sense is increasing so quickly, tell them it's because I taught you a meditation technique. There's no need to say more."
Mo Hua was a little bewildered, but he vaguely felt that Mister Zhuang was looking out for him. He silently committed Mister Zhuang's words to memory.
Mister Zhuang nodded and took out a thin booklet from his sleeve. The title on the cover read: Meditation Techniques.
(End of Chapter)
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