Chapter 12: Reward

Several people strolled for a while, and Xiao Hu suddenly asked: "Where are we going next?"

Mo Hua patted the storage bag on his body. "First, let's go to Bei Da Jie!"

The group arrived in front of You Yuan Zhai on Bei Street. Mo Hua stepped onto the front steps, then turned back and saw his three young companions standing rooted to the spot. He couldn't help but ask, "Aren't you all coming in?"

The three young companions all shook their heads in unison:

"Looking at arrays makes me dizzy..."

"Me too..."

"I have no affinity with arrays in this life. I'm not going in either..."

Mo Hua had to say, "Then you all wait here for a while. I'll be out soon."

The three young companions all nodded together.

Mo Hua entered the door. The bell on the door eaves rang out. The manager followed the sound and saw Mo Hua standing upright in the doorway with a storage bag slung over his shoulder. He couldn't help but chuckle, "It's you again. So, has your elder brother finished drawing all the arrays?"

Mo Hua nodded. "Yes."

The manager became a little more animated. "Oh? It's only been five days. That's quite fast," he said, then waved his hand at Mo Hua. "Bring them here for me to look at."

Mo Hua took the arrays out of the storage bag, stood on his tiptoes, and placed them on the counter.

The manager picked up the arrays, looked at them, and frowned slightly.

Mo Hua felt a bit uneasy. "Are they not drawn correctly?"

The manager pondered for a moment and said, "They are correct, but the skill level doesn't quite look like a skilled hand. A few copies are okay, but these few copies..."

The manager flipped through several copies. Mo Hua glanced at them; they were the ones he had drawn at the very beginning.

"These few copies are quite different. The brushwork is very unskilled, intermittent, like it was pieced together bit by bit. Is your elder brother really learning arrays from an array master? This level difference is a bit too much..."

Mo Hua felt a little embarrassed. It was his first time drawing, and he had done his best to draw them like this.

"Then, can these arrays be used?"

The manager's finger tapped on the desk. He carefully looked them over again and said:

"Although the brushwork is a bit poor, the array itself is still fine. They can still be used... it's just the brushwork that's a bit poor."

Mo Hua let out a breath. "Then that's good." He immediately added, "Perhaps my elder brother was drawing this array for the first time and wasn't very familiar with it, so he was a bit unskilled at the beginning. Don't you think the later copies are much better?"

The manager looked at the later arrays and slowly nodded. "That is true. The later copies are indeed better, at least standard."

"Right?" Mo Hua guaranteed, "Rest assured, I... my elder brother will definitely draw better and better in the future!"

The manager was amused by Mo Hua. "You're quite confident in your elder brother. Alright, considering your face, this order is considered complete. But next time, the arrays need to at least reach the level of these later copies. Don't bring those practice arrays to make up the numbers."

Mo Hua nodded continuously.

The manager put away the array diagrams, counted several spirit stones, and placed them on the table.

"Eight copies successful, two copies failed. The two spirit stone deposit needs to be deducted. The reward is six spirit stones."

"If your elder brother wants to continue drawing, the deposit is still ten. Your elder brother already has the Ming Huo Array diagram. I'll just give him ten portions of paper and ink materials here."

The manager then gave the storage bag containing paper and ink to Mo Hua.

Mo Hua put away the paper and ink materials and picked up the six spirit stones, feeling a surge of happiness.

Earning six spirit stones in five days was already not much different from the income of general Qi Refining middle to late stage cultivators.

Mo Hua's mother, Liu Ru Hua, helps in the kitchen in the dining hall, earning only one spirit stone a day. His father, Mo Shan, earns a bit more from hunting demons, but it's not stable. Sometimes he can earn more, but if he doesn't hunt valuable demons, the earnings are even lower.

Mo Hua thanked the manager and then exited You Yuan Zhai. At the doorway, his three young companions looked at him eagerly.

Mo Hua patted his storage bag and waved his small hand. "Let's go! I'll treat you all to pastries!"

Da Hu and the other two all exclaimed happily, crowding around Mo Hua to the pastry shop on the street.

Tong Xian City has many shops making pastries. The famous pastries use refined and expensive ingredients, which Mo Hua and the others naturally couldn't afford. They looked for the street-side pastry shop called "Wang Shi Pastry," which was a shop for ordinary Qi Refining period cultivators. The shop front was quite simple. Although the ingredients weren't considered famous, they were very affordable.

During festivals, ordinary cultivators often bought them for their children to satisfy their cravings.

Wang Shi Pastry is famous for its Wu Se Gao, which is steamed using a mixture of five different colored spirit grains from the cultivation world. It is fragrant, sweet, soft, and glutinous. One piece of Wu Se Gao costs only two fen of broken spirit stones.

The income of low-level loose cultivators is too low, and many cultivators may not even earn one spirit stone a day, so they can only cut spirit stones to use. One spirit stone is equally divided into ten fen, and ten fen of broken spirit stones are equal to one spirit stone.

Broken spirit stones are not recognized on the list of the Dao Court and sect families. They only circulate among low-level cultivators, and only poor Qi Refining period cultivators will use these few fen of broken spirit stones.

Mo Hua spent two spirit stones and bought ten pieces of Wu Se Gao. The shop owner saw that Mo Hua bought many, and they were children, so he specially gave two extra pieces.

Mo Hua divided two pieces for each person, and the remaining four pieces were prepared to be saved to take home for his father and mother to eat.

Mo Hua and the other three, each holding a piece of fragrant and sweet pastry that was still hot, walked and ate. Xiao Hu was so hot his mouth couldn't close, but he still couldn't stop talking:

"This pastry is really delicious. When I earn spirit stones in the future, I'll definitely eat it every day!"

Shuang Hu said, "Then you might as well marry a woman who can make pastries as your Dao companion. That way, you can eat it every day."

Xiao Hu suddenly realized, "Right, right, how did I not think of that!" Immediately, he became tangled up again. "But I already have someone I like. As a person, you can't abandon the old when you see the new..."

Shuang Hu's eyes widened. "Who do you like?"

Xiao Hu said, "The little girl selling tofu on the west street. I said I like her first. You're not allowed to snatch her from me!"

Shuang Hu hissed and waved his hand. "Rest assured, her temper is very bad. I won't snatch her from you..."

While Shuang Hu and Xiao Hu were chatting, Da Hu focused on eating his pastries. He ate the two pieces of pastry in no time, and even licked his fingers after finishing.

Mo Hua gave him the one he hadn't eaten.

Da Hu smiled embarrassedly but still couldn't help but take the pastry and eat it.

Shuang Hu suddenly said, "Mo Hua, did you really help that Zhai draw arrays?"

Mo Hua nodded.

Xiao Hu opened his mouth wide. "You can actually draw arrays for others already?"

Shuang Hu rolled his eyes at him and said, "Otherwise, where do you think the spirit stones for the pastries came from?"

Xiao Hu held the pastries, stunned. "These pastries were originally bought with the spirit stones you earned from drawing arrays. That's impressive, Mo Hua. You won't really become a first-grade array master in the future, will you!"

Mo Hua said, "It's too early to say that. How could becoming an array master be that simple? Only we know about this matter. You all absolutely must not tell others, okay? When I earn more spirit stones, I'll treat you all to pastries again."

The three people heard the word "pastries" and quickly nodded. Xiao Hu even guaranteed, "If I say it out, I won't have any pastries to eat for a lifetime!"

Mo Hua and the others strolled on the street for a bit, looking at some strange and unusual new things. After the sky gradually darkened, they each returned home.

Mo Hua gave the pastries to Liu Ru Hua. Liu Ru Hua steamed them in the pot for a bit and then put them in Mo Hua's bowl. Mo Hua firmly refused. After a round of pushing and pulling, Mo Hua finally ate two, and Mo Shan and Liu Ru Hua each tasted one.

After being steamed by Liu Ru Hua, the pastries were hot and fragrant again. Mo Hua ate them and felt they were even better than the ones he had eaten at noon. He couldn't help but ask, "Mother, do you know how to steam pastries?"

Liu Ru Hua laughed, "What's so difficult about that? Mother can make even more complex dishes. It's just that many meals require a specially refined stove by a refining device master, and also need to be matched with special arrays. We don't have the conditions at home to make them, that's all."

"Is the stove very expensive?"

"The stove needs to be forged by a refining device master, so it's naturally not cheap. But the arrays are even more expensive. It's not easy to ask an array master to draw arrays, especially for a large item like a stove. So, unless you want to open a restaurant, no one will spend a lot of money to prepare a stove..."

Mo Hua nodded. It seemed that the applications of arrays in the cultivation world were more widespread than he had thought. He didn't know what kind of arrays were used on stoves.

Mo Hua silently noted it down, planning to learn a bit later when he had time.