Chapter 725: Breakthrough
Chapter 725: Breakthrough
"Oh, I see." Mo Hua nodded.
Cheng Mo looked around discreetly before turning to Mo Hua and Situ Jian, "Are you two still watching?"
Situ Jian glanced at Mo Hua.
Mo Hua pondered for a moment before shaking his head, "Let's head back first. There's not much to see in pill refining. We can always come back later when we have time."
"Alright!" Cheng Mo and Situ Jian nodded.
And so, the trio left Mount Luandao and returned to their sect.
Back at the sect, Mo Hua continued his usual routine of cultivation, breaking through bottlenecks, drawing array formations, and refining his armor. However, whenever he had free time, he would still visit Mount Luandao to observe the Luandao Assembly.
After all, the assembly was a grand event held only once every three years in Qianxue Province.
Even though he wasn't participating, he felt it was necessary to at least be aware of what was happening.
Moreover, just because he wasn't taking part now didn't mean he wouldn't in the future.
Mo Hua calculated that in six years, if his cultivation reached the late Foundation Establishment stage, he might have to step onto the stage and compete with the proud disciples of countless sects.
However, such an act would attract too much attention, which didn't align with his modest and humble nature.
"The tallest tree catches the most wind," his master had always taught him.
"The protruding beam rots first."
These words of wisdom always gave Mo Hua pause when considering whether or not to participate in the Luandao Assembly in the future.
But no matter what, that was a decision for six years from now, and he didn't need to rush into making a choice just yet. He could observe the situation and decide later.
The Luandao Assembly continued as scheduled.
Whenever he had free time, Mo Hua would go and watch for a bit.
This session's agenda started with pill refining, followed by artifact forging, talisman inscribing, array formation, and finally, a martial arts competition.
There wasn't much to see in pill refining.
It mostly involved a group of people tending to furnaces, focusing on their pill-refining techniques, fire control, skills, and manipulation. The final grades were based on various factors, including the time taken to refine the pills, success rates, and the quality of the resulting pills.
Mo Hua wasn't particularly interested in this aspect.
He didn't even know who ended up winning the top spot, except that it was a senior female disciple from the Danqing Sect, two years ahead of him.
The Danqing Sect was one of the Twelve Lesser Sects in the Qianxue Province, and most of its disciples dedicated their lives to pill refining.
Their motto was to "refine pills to save the world and heal the wounded."
Mo Hua couldn't help but think of Old Man Feng, the top-grade pill master in Tongxian City.
He owed his safe growth from a child with strong spiritual sense but weak body to Old Man Feng's treatment and care.
The culture and ethos of the Danqing Sect reminded Mo Hua of Old Man Feng, and he felt a surge of goodwill toward the sect.
Next up was the artifact forging assembly.
Mo Hua paid a bit more attention to this one.
Although his artifact-forging skills were even worse than his pill-refining skills, he at least had some knowledge in this area.
Especially recently, he had exchanged a lot of insights on artifact forging with Gu Shifu, a third-grade Golden Core artifact refiner.
Mo Hua had also led the design of artifact-forging array formations and customized a large number of spiritual artifacts. In order to make the shape of the artifacts conform to the structure of the array formations, he had conducted a lot of research.
So, despite his actual artifact-forging skills still being quite lacking—mainly because he couldn't swing the second-grade heavy hammer—his vision and understanding of artifact forging had improved significantly.
This was something that most artifact refiners, especially those who followed the traditional path of diligently studying according to the sect's teachings and norms, lacked.
At this moment, as Mo Hua watched others forge artifacts, he observed, summarized, and improved his own design concepts for artifact-forging array formations, gaining a lot from the experience.
A few days later, the artifact-forging assembly also came to an end.
However, the winner of the assembly took Mo Hua by surprise. It wasn't someone from the Twelve Lesser Sects or even one of the Hundred Sects of Qianxue Province, which specialized in artifact forging. Instead, it was someone from the Taihe Sect, one of the Eight Great Sects with connections to the Taiwu Sect.
"Taihe Sect..."
Mo Hua was slightly taken aback.
He remembered that Ouyang Feng, a senior brother with whom he had a good relationship, was also from the Taihe Sect.
However, this winner of the artifact-forging assembly was probably a senior disciple, a year ahead of Ouyang Feng and thus, his senior as well.
And the artifact-forging technique that won him first place was a sword-forging method.
"Taihe Sect, sword-forging technique..."
Mo Hua stroked his chin, deep in thought.
After that was the talisman inscribing assembly.
This was the area that Mo Hua was least familiar with.
In simple terms, talisman inscribing involved consuming spiritual power to condense a spell and then sealing it into a pre-prepared jade talisman.
When using the talisman, one could directly activate the spell by stimulating the jade talisman.
There were certain cultivation realm restrictions for using talismans, but they generally didn't require the user to expend much additional spiritual power.
They were a convenient supplementary means of attack.
Moreover, talisman inscribing itself was a category that integrated various aspects of cultivation.
The "jade talismans" used in talisman inscribing relied on artifact forging and array formations for their creation.
And the most important factor for a talisman inscriber was their spiritual power.
Outstanding talisman inscribers were invariably those with abundant spiritual power and a profound understanding of spells, especially rare or superior ones.
This was something that Mo Hua lacked by nature.
Although he was a spiritual cultivator, his spiritual root was poor, resulting in weak spiritual power.
While he was well-versed in spells, he had taken the path of "mastering all spells," and the ones he excelled at were all common low-level spells.
Furthermore, the "jade talisman" embryos were quite expensive.
Mo Hua couldn't bring himself to spend money on them.
He even felt a bit of heartache when buying array mediums and spirit ink.
For these reasons, among all the cultivation categories, Mo Hua's talisman inscribing was the weakest.
Although his overall grade was "Yi Liu Bing," meaning he had achieved first-grade in one category and sixth-grade in the others, the "bing" in talisman inscribing was the lowest possible grade, just barely above the "ding" grade.
So, during the talisman inscribing assembly, Mo Hua only glanced at it briefly.
He didn't even bother to find out who won the top spot.
Finally, it was time for the array formation assembly.
Even fewer people watched this assembly.
Among the five categories of cultivation featured in the Luandao Assembly—pill refining, artifact forging, talisman inscribing, array formations, and martial arts—the array formation assembly was the grand finale, placed at the very end.
However, after witnessing the previous three assemblies, most of the disciples had lost interest.
Moreover, the highly anticipated martial arts competition, featuring the proud disciples of the Four Great Sects, Eight Great Sects, Twelve Lesser Sects, and Hundred Sects of Qianxue Province, was up next.
Naturally, most disciples were more concerned about that.
Furthermore, among the various cultivation categories, array formations were the most prestigious but also the driest and dullest to watch.
Pill refining involved the excitement of firing up furnaces and dancing flames.
Artifact forging had the spectacle of swinging hammers and flying sparks.
Talisman inscribing displayed the brilliance of condensed spells.
Only array formation masters were left drawing array formations in a rather unremarkable manner.
Thus, compared to the other assemblies, the Formation Discussion was the least attended.
However, Mo Hua felt quite the opposite.
He was most captivated by the Formation Discussion.
He made sure to watch all the significant competitions.
And after observing numerous disciples drawing formations, Mo Hua had a rough gauge of the standard of the proud disciples participating in the Formation Discussion.
These senior brothers and sisters were undoubtedly more skilled than him.
They were all at the late Qi Refining stage with spiritual senses mostly consisting of nineteen strands.
Occasionally, there would be some with peak eighteen strands.
But those with eighteen strands were merely there to "make up the numbers."
The fact that these disciples' sects had average formation legacies, yet were still able to produce a few disciples with eighteen strands of spiritual sense who specialized in formations and have them participate in the Formation Discussion, was already quite commendable.
Moreover, the difficulty of the formations being assessed was not solely focused on nineteen strands.
It started with seventeen strands, then eighteen, and finally, nineteen.
Through this step-by-step elimination process, the remaining disciples were those with late Qi Refining cultivation, possessing deep spiritual senses of nineteen strands, and most of them had already passed the second-grade High-Level Formation Master qualification assessment.
Mo Hua didn't know how to draw nineteen-strand formations yet.
But that was not because these formations were particularly challenging; it was because his spiritual sense wasn't strong enough yet.
Even the final formation they were assessed on, a relatively obscure and profound nineteen-strand formation called the "Postnatal Eight Trigrams Seclusion Formation," didn't seem overly difficult to Mo Hua.
"Is this the standard..." Mo Hua thought to himself, "Could I possibly get first place in six years..."
Mo Hua shook his head, finding his own thoughts hard to believe.
First place in the Formation Discussion in the Qianxue Province?
He quickly dismissed the idea.
It probably wouldn't be that easy...
One should not be overly ambitious but instead, remain grounded!
He shouldn't have such arrogant thoughts of looking down on others!
Mo Hua slowly nodded, calming himself and maintaining a humble attitude before continuing to watch.
He stayed until the end of the Sword Discussion.
To Mo Hua's surprise, the top three in the Formation Discussion were all disciples from the "Four Great Sects."
The Wan Zhen Sect, which specialized in formations and bore the name "formations," only managed to secure fourth place.
And the one who took first place was a disciple with a proud demeanor and a hint of disdain in his eyes. He had a handsome appearance and carried the surname "Shen."
He wore an exquisite robe of white with gold trimmings.
Mo Hua recognized that robe.
It was the robe of Qian Dao Zong.
First place in the Formation Discussion went to Qian Dao Zong...
One of the Four Great Sects of Qianxue Province, Qian Dao Zong.
The very same sect that had rejected him when he tried to enroll, using the excuse of his inferior spiritual root and low talent.
Even now, Mo Hua couldn't help but feel a sour taste in his mouth when he thought about it.
Mo Hua scoffed inwardly, muttering to himself:
"Looking down on me..."
While Mo Hua didn't consider himself a petty person, he couldn't let this slight go.
He would have his revenge one day.
He would turn the tables on them.
"Qian Dao Zong!"
Mo Hua huffed softly, silently remembering the name.
The surrounding elders and upper-level cultivators from various sects and clans stood up to congratulate the winning disciple.
Although the Formation Discussion had the fewest spectators among the assemblies, it seemed that due to the unique status of formations, there were actually more elders observing compared to the previous Pill, Artifact, and Talisman Discussions.
The victorious disciple from the Shen family politely returned their greetings, but his face still carried a hint of arrogance.
The elders of Qian Dao Zong smiled proudly, their demeanor both restrained and haughty as they mingled with the crowd.
It was as if taking first place in the Formation Discussion was something they were always destined to achieve.
And with that, the Formation Discussion came to an end.
...
After another period of time, it was finally time for the most important event, the Sword Discussion.
The Sword Discussion was also held on Mount Luandao.
When Mo Hua arrived at Mount Luandao, he finally understood what it meant to be the grandest event of all.
The entire Mount Luandao was buzzing with people, packed with disciples from various sects.
Almost every disciple's face was filled with excitement, anticipation, admiration, and aspiration.
Usually, such expressions would only appear on the disciples' faces during their annual vacations.
Mo Hua, too, was infected by the atmosphere, his heart fluttering with anticipation.
Cheng Mo and Situ Jian were there, as well as Hao Xuan.
Especially Cheng Mo, who had also broken through to the middle stage of Qi Refining. With his upgrade secured for the following year, he had little else to do and thus spent his days on Mount Luandao.
As a body cultivator, he dreamed of participating in the Sword Discussion.
The Sword Discussion was held in a specially designated area on Mount Luandao, featuring various terrains with mountains and waters to accommodate teams of five disciples each for their martial arts demonstrations.
Above the arena were formations.
Mo Hua's spiritual sense swept through, and his eyes widened slightly, a hint of awe flashing across his face.
"Fifth-grade..."
These formations were genuine fifth-grade formations, and not just any ordinary ones.
They were fifth-grade spatial formations! Formations imbued with the power of space!
But...
Mo Hua furrowed his brows, perplexed. "Why is a fifth-grade formation being used here?"
Naturally, Cheng Mo didn't know, and Hao Xuan shook his head as well.
Situ Jian then explained to Mo Hua, "These formations are used to protect the disciples during the Sword Discussion."
While Situ Jian didn't understand fifth-grade formations, he was very familiar with the setup of the Sword Discussion.
Not a single disciple in the entire Qianxue Province would not yearn to participate in the Sword Discussion.
Situ Jian was no exception.
Moreover, as a sword cultivator with the character 'sword' in his name, doing well in the Sword Discussion would not only earn him the respect of the elders in his sect but would also bring glory to his family, opening up a bright path for his future.
Situ Jian continued, "The Sword Discussion is merely a friendly exchange, not a life-or-death battle."
"But since everyone here is at the Qi Refining stage with similar cultivation levels, once they go all out, it's hard to hold back."
"So, some of the senior predecessors in Qianxue Province joined forces to set up these fifth-grade spatial formations to ensure the safety of the disciples."
The Sword Discussion was quite intricate when it came to the actual battles.
With his current understanding of array formations, there were some things he couldn't quite wrap his head around. How could they ensure the safety of the disciples during the Sword Discussion?
Situ Jian pointed to the disciples in the arena, "Before they enter the arena, each of them is given a 'life talisman'."
"The life talisman is integrated with the fifth-grade array formation. It will absorb damage for the disciple. Once the damage exceeds a certain limit, the life talisman shatters, and the disciple is considered defeated."
"At the same time, the fifth-grade array formation will be forcibly activated, harnessing the power of void to teleport the disciple out of the arena, ensuring their safety..."
Mo Hua was taken aback for a moment before comprehension dawned on him.
So that's how the fifth-grade void array formation was utilized.
"Is this 'life talisman' similar to the 'Primordial Life Talisman'?" Mo Hua asked.
"Yes, there are some similarities, but they are actually quite different."
Situ Jian's expression turned solemn, "While this life talisman does involve the power of the fifth-grade void, it is nowhere near comparable to the Primordial Life Talisman."
"In the entire Qianxue Province, only a handful of top-tier families have the qualifications for their most outstanding heirs to receive the Primordial Life Talisman, personally planted by the ancient void ancestor, at the cost of his own source energy."
"And these heirs are mostly concentrated within the 'Four Great Sects'."
"Our Situ family barely scraped by with fifth-grade qualifications, but we still don't have the right to receive such a 'Primordial Life Talisman'..."
Situ Jian sighed.
Mo Hua frowned slightly.
The Primordial Life Talisman...
Before he could ponder further, Cheng Mo interrupted, "It's starting! It's starting! Mo Hua, Xiao Shi, look!"
Mo Hua followed Cheng Mo's gaze and saw that within the arena, separated and protected by the array formation, two groups of disciples had already begun their battle.
The five-on-five battles were quite intricate.
They required not only individual cultivation and combat prowess but also teamwork, strategy, and tactics.
When the battle truly commenced, the situation became complex and ever-changing.
As this was his first time watching, Mo Hua couldn't quite understand many of the rules.
He could only watch and take notes.
However, it had to be said that this was much more exciting to watch than the previous pill refining, artifact forging, and talisman inscribing assemblies.
Especially when it came to the battles involving the seniors and juniors of the Taixu Sect against other sects.
Due to their shared affiliation, he naturally felt a sense of anticipation.
No one wanted their own sect to lose.
Thus, as the two teams clashed, the body cultivators with their sharp blades and tiger-like movements gradually cornered the spiritual cultivators.
The spiritual cultivators retreated while releasing spells.
The decisive moment could come at any time and was fleeting.
A slight lapse in concentration could lead to a series of unforeseen events, making the battles thrilling and keeping the audience on the edge of their seats.
Mo Hua quickly became engrossed in the battles.
Before he knew it, the sky had darkened, and an entire day had passed.
Mo Hua sighed.
This Sword Discussion was indeed captivating.
Time flew by.
However, considering that it only happened once every three years, Mo Hua decided to indulge a little. Whenever he had free time, he would join Cheng Mo to watch the battles.
As he continued watching, Mo Hua noticed something different.
Although it was a team effort, many sects didn't seem to have that much "cohesion" among their disciples.
In most cases, they still fought individually.
They would then take advantage of opportunities to gang up on their opponents, creating a numerical advantage.
This was essentially their tactic.
Team collaboration mainly served the purpose of "ganging up on the enemy."
The tactical goal was also mostly to "overwhelm the opponent with numbers."
While the battles were exciting to watch, the tactics were indeed quite one-dimensional and lacking in variation.
These strategies were even less sophisticated than those employed by the beast-hunting uncles and aunties of Tongxian City, who would lure the beasts into ambushes, attack from a distance while applying pressure up close, and employ encirclement tactics for the kill.
Mo Hua frowned in thought and gradually began to understand.
The beast-hunting uncles and aunties fought for their lives, using whatever means necessary without holding anything back.
On the other hand, the Sword Discussion was essentially a "sparring match."
There wasn't complete unity among the disciples of the same sect, and there was also internal competition.
Moreover, it seemed that some of the major sects were deliberately showcasing one or two of their core disciples.
During the group battles, the other disciples would take the brunt of the fight first.
Once the opponents' spiritual and physical energies were depleted, these core disciples would step in and accomplish the "feat" of defeating two or even three opponents on their own, reaping all the glory and admiration of their fellow disciples.
Mo Hua felt a bit disdainful.
Using the Sword Discussion to build up their core disciples.
However, the Sword Discussion was meant for friendly exchanges, so there was nothing wrong with these tactics.
But what if they encountered evil cultivators or vicious demon cultivators in the future? Those demon cultivators were like centipedes that didn't truly die even when crushed.
Wouldn't these tactics give them an opportunity to turn the tables?
Or perhaps these core disciples would never face the demon cultivators on the front lines and would instead join the Dao Court or the higher echelons of their clans? Mo Hua shook his head.
In any case, these matters had nothing to do with him.
For now, he was merely an observer.
With the idea of knowing his opponents and himself, Mo Hua continued to watch the Sword Discussion to gain a better understanding of the other sects' cultivation methods, preferred techniques, and commonly used strategies.
He also wanted to gauge the atmosphere within each sect and whether the disciples were harmonious on the surface but schemed against each other behind the scenes.
At the same time, Mo Hua contemplated what he would do and what strategies he could employ if he were to participate. He summarized his thoughts, hoping that they would be useful if he ever got the chance to join the battles.
Aside from watching the Sword Discussion, Mo Hua didn't slack off in his own cultivation.
Through his relentless efforts day and night, Mo Hua finally unravelled the mysterious array formation in his sea of consciousness, breaking through the bottleneck, and everything fell into place.
As the Sword Discussion was drawing to a close, Mo Hua's cultivation also broke through.
He transcended the early stage and entered the middle stage of Qi Refining.
His spiritual energy, like liquid mercury, became even more profound.
Thus, he became a middle-stage Foundation Establishment youth cultivator.
(Cheers for reaching the middle stage of Foundation Establishment!)
(End of Chapter)
Chapter end
Report
