Chapter 144: Threshold

After chatting with An Xiaopang for a while longer, Zhang Lan found Mo Jing and said they were leaving, asking if Mo Jing wanted to leave too.

Mo Jing said goodbye to An Xiaopang. An Xiaopang was a bit reluctant, so Mo Jing told him to think more about what he wanted to do in his free time.

Ultimately, people can only rely on themselves.

An Xiaopang nodded solemnly.

Mo Jing and the others left the An family residence. Zhang Lan and Situ Fang didn't go back yet, but followed Mo Jing all the way to his family's eatery. They then spent spirit stones to buy quite a bit of wine and meat, saying they would take it back to eat.

Their behavior made Mo Jing very puzzled.

They spent spirit stones to treat Mo Jing to spirit food, didn't eat any themselves, then ran to Mo Jing's house and spent spirit stones to buy meat to eat!

Mo Jing didn't know what to say.

However, they had a lot of spirit stones, so he let them be.

Zhang Lan didn't like eating spirit food. Situ Fang had tasted the beef Mo Jing brought in the mountains before and had always remembered it.

The two of them each bought several jin of demon meat, then said goodbye to Mo Jing.

Mo Jing remembered that he still had spirit food from the Spirit Food Building in his storage bag.

There was a lot of chicken, duck, fish, and meat.

Mo Jing gave the spirit food to his mother.

Liu Ruhua shared some with Aunt Meng, Jiang Yi, and other neighbors, then kept some for herself. She remade it in the evening for Mo Jing to taste.

Mo Jing ate it and nodded, feeling that the taste was finally right.

In the days that followed, Mo Jing cultivated and drew arrays as usual.

One morning, Mo Jing was cultivating in meditation. In a trance, he felt his meridians tremble.

Mo Jing immediately took out more spirit stones and cultivated with a calm heart, absorbing them.

He didn't know how long had passed, but his cultivation then broke through.

Mo Jing's mood was complex and hard to describe.

Thinking hard about a breakthrough didn't necessarily lead to one, but cultivating with a clear heart surprisingly resulted in a breakthrough.

Indeed, cultivating the Dao still requires accumulating little by little, a process of water carving through stone.

However, he had finally reached Qi Refining level six!

Mo Jing's spirits lifted.

He felt his divine sense strength had advanced a step, and the shackles that vaguely limited its growth had also unknowingly loosened.

Mo Jing lifted the quilt. There was a row of storage bags beside the bed, all containing jade bottles, and the jade bottles were full of demon blood!

They were densely packed, over a thousand bottles!

Mo Jing was going to use these thousand-plus bottles of demon blood to comprehend nine array patterns and step over the threshold to become a first-grade array master!

Mo Jing opened the "Thousand Array Illustrations" and found an array.

First-grade Golden Armor Array!

This was the first array Mo Jing was going to learn that contained nine array patterns.

Mo Jing had already memorized the array patterns fluently, but his divine sense wasn't enough before, so he couldn't draw them.

Now that Mo Jing had become a Qi Refining level six cultivator, his divine sense had greatly increased, and he could try to draw an array with nine patterns.

Mo Jing calmed his mind, spread out the paper, adjusted the spirit ink, dipped the brush in the ink, and began to formally draw the first-grade Golden Armor Array.

Mo Jing drew the first eight array patterns with ease, without any hindrance, but when he was drawing the ninth array pattern, he faintly felt his divine sense wasn't sufficient after only a few strokes.

"That can't be right..."

Mo Jing was dumbfounded. By the time his divine sense was almost exhausted, he had only drawn eight and a half array patterns.

"Why is there such a big difference?"

Mo Jing put down his brush, propped his chin, and began to think.

According to reason, his realm had improved, and his divine sense had also correspondingly increased quite a bit. Why was his divine sense now only enough to draw a little more than half an array pattern?

He originally thought that even if he couldn't directly draw the entire array with nine array patterns, he could at least roughly draw it, and with a few more practice attempts, it would be fine.

Looking at it now, it seemed it wasn't that simple.

Mo Jing furrowed his brows, then sat in meditation, using meditation techniques to recover his divine sense. After trying a few more times, the effect was not very ideal.

In the afternoon, he went to the Bamboo Residence to find Mister Zhuang.

Mister Zhuang looked at Mo Jing with a complex expression and asked, "How many array patterns can you draw in an array?"

"Nine arrays."

"Then what's your cultivation level?"

"Level six..."

Mo Jing didn't understand why Mister Zhuang was asking this.

Mister Zhuang sighed in his heart and said, "How can a breakthrough from Qi Refining level five to level six bridge the gap in divine sense between eight and nine array patterns?"

"Aren't they all just one realm apart?"

"The difference between Qi Refining level nine and Foundation Building is also only one realm."

Mo Jing laughed awkwardly.

Mister Zhuang patiently explained, "Within each major realm, the further you go, the slower the cultivation and divine sense improve, and the larger the gap between realms."

"So the gap between eight array patterns and nine array patterns is bigger than all the previous ones?" Mo Jing asked.

Mister Zhuang nodded, "Generally speaking, nine array patterns is already the limit for a first-grade array master."

"Completing nine array patterns in one go requires extremely high standards for your array drawing brushwork, array diagram memory, array hub comprehension, as well as divine sense strength and control..."

"From eight array patterns to nine array patterns, it seems like only the last step, but the difference is quite significant. Some array masters hesitate over this their entire lives, just one step away from advancing to a grade, but this step may not be taken in a lifetime."

Mister Zhuang was quite emotional.

Mo Jing was a little nervous. Would he also spend a lifetime on this threshold?

Mister Zhuang saw through Mo Jing's thoughts and pointed at his forehead, "How old are you, what are you worrying about? Calmly go back and practice more, it's just good."

With Mister Zhuang saying this, Mo Jing felt at ease.

He only needed to keep drawing arrays, which was good. Sometimes the most foolish method is the best method.

Mo Jing nodded.

After Mo Jing said goodbye, a light breeze floated through the Bamboo Room. Old Kui appeared behind Mister Zhuang and asked somewhat curiously:

"How long will he need for this threshold?"

Mister Zhuang said, "At least three or four days, at most half a month."

Old Kui was silent, and finally couldn't help but say, "You call this a threshold?"

Ten days to half a month is fine, this isn't a threshold, it doesn't even count as a stumbling block...

Mister Zhuang said faintly, "His realm breakthrough has solved the shackles on his divine sense, and the limit of his divine sense growth has loosened. Now his divine sense is still insufficient. In ten-plus days, he'll practice arrays, his divine sense will improve, and these nine array patterns won't be difficult."

Old Kui was speechless.

Mister Zhuang raised his eyebrows, "Nine array patterns, for other cultivators, is indeed a threshold, but Mo Jing has practiced too many arrays. For him, this threshold is actually nothing at all."

Old Kui said unhappily, "Then why did you just say so much nonsense?"

Mister Zhuang's expression became playful, and he smiled slightly, saying:

"I was just teasing him, so he wouldn't become proud."

After Mo Jing returned home, he seriously followed Mister Zhuang's advice, flattened his mindset, and calmly practiced arrays.

After practicing for a while, he did feel his divine sense increase, and he could draw more strokes of the Golden Armor Array patterns.

Mo Jing's spirit was lifted, greatly encouraged, and he continued to draw.

Just like this, his divine sense grew stronger every day, and he could draw a bit more of the array patterns each day.

Ten days later, Mo Jing naturally drew out the Golden Armor Array. It felt like a ripe fruit falling, a process of water carving through stone.

But Mo Jing's eyebrows furrowed.

It didn't seem as difficult as Mister Zhuang said.

Didn't he say there was a threshold between eight and nine array patterns? Where was the threshold?

Mo Jing carefully recalled, but still couldn't figure out where the threshold was.

"How is this?"

Mo Jing was a bit doubtful, his eyebrows furrowing even tighter.

He said there was a threshold...

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