Chapter 43: Seeking Knowledge

The Mo Shan couple were overjoyed to hear that Mo Hua had been recommended by Yan Jiaoxi to become a disciple of a highly skilled array master.

Mo Shan initially had some concerns, but upon further reflection, he felt there was nothing to worry about. Yan Jiaoxi had served as a teacher at Tong Xian Men for many years and had a good reputation. Anyone praised and recommended by Yan Jiaoxi would naturally be of no ordinary background. The Mo Shan family were just ordinary rogue cultivators with neither spirit stones nor family wealth, so there was no reason to suspect others of plotting against them. Furthermore, this type of array master was generally someone they might not even get to meet. This was a rare opportunity.

Mo Hua was now learning array magic, living at home, and Liu Ru Hua could see her son every day and cook for him, which made her even happier.

Early the next morning, after eating the hearty breakfast prepared by Liu Ru Hua, Mo Hua set out towards the southeast mountain to visit Mister Zhuang and seek knowledge.

When Mo Hua arrived at the foot of the mountain this time, he followed the small path to the bamboo gate and only then noticed a plaque in front of the courtyard. The plaque read "Zuo Wang Ju." He didn't know why he hadn't seen it yesterday.

Mo Hua entered Zuo Wang Ju. Mister Zhuang was sitting idly by the pool, propping his cheek with one hand and fishing with the other. The fishing rod was just a section of green bamboo, and the line underneath was empty, with no bait.

Mo Hua peered into the pool and discovered that there were no fish inside. Mo Hua felt that Mister Zhuang might have some profound meaning behind this, so he looked up at Mister Zhuang again and realized that Mister Zhuang wasn't fishing at all; he was just propping his cheek and napping.

Fortunately, the old man had seen Mo Hua yesterday and had called him aside, saying:"Mister is often prone to drowsiness. When he is napping, just ignore him. Of course, don't disturb him.""Oh, I see." Mo Hua nodded, still unclear.

The old man then said: "I am the... housekeeper here, responsible for Mister's daily life. You can call me Kui Lao."

Mo Hua politely said: "Grandpa Kui."

Kui Lao glanced at Mo Hua but said nothing. He took out a chessboard and asked: "Do you play chess?"

Mo Hua looked at the chessboard. "Is this Five Elements Chess?"

There were many types of chess in the cultivation world, such as Eight Trigrams Chess, Five Elements Chess, Tian Yuan Chess, Three Talents Chess, etc. Five Elements Chess was the simplest and most popular among them, mainly used for children's cultivation enlightenment to help them memorize the common knowledge of the Five Elements generating and overcoming each other.

The gameplay was very simple. Each side held two types of pieces. Different attribute Five Elements pieces would be randomly generated on the board and revealed when flipped over. Pieces of the same side with mutually generating Five Elements were stronger, and pieces of opposite sides with mutually overcoming Five Elements could capture each other. It was simple, interesting, and didn't require much thought, making it a good game for cultivating children's intelligence.

Mo Hua himself playing Five Elements Chess was nothing unusual, but the world-weary Kui Lao was also playing...

Kui Lao seemed to see through Mo Hua's thoughts. "Do you feel Five Elements Chess is too simple?"

Mo Hua hesitated for a moment and said against his conscience: "The Great Dao is simple, returning to the natural state. The simpler things are, the more profound they often are."

Kui Lao was stunned, thought for a moment, and then suddenly realized: "That's a good point. The next time I play chess with someone, I'll tell them that."

Mo Hua: "......"

Thus, Mo Hua began to play chess with Kui Lao.

At first, Mo Hua thought Kui Lao was definitely an expert at this and was on high alert. However, after a few rounds, he discovered that Kui Lao and himself were evenly matched, neck and neck. Neither was better than the other, so he felt no pressure, and the two played happily.

Unknowingly, it was already noon. Only then did Mo Hua remember what he had come here for...

Mister Zhuang, who had been napping by the pool and sleeping for the morning, opened his eyes at this time, looked at the sun, and nodded. "It's time for lunch."

So, Mo Hua, who had spent half the day playing chess, got another meal.

The food was cooked by Kui Lao. There was meat, vegetables, and rice, all with abundant spiritual energy, but the taste was hard to describe. Judging from Kui Lao's appearance, he didn't seem particularly skilled at cooking.

However, Mister Zhuang didn't seem to mind. The grains entering his stomach turned into blood energy, and the sensations in his mouth and stomach were all illusory. No matter how the food tasted, each chopstick and spoon was composed and elegant, as if he wasn't eating grains but the wind and dew between heaven and earth.

Mo Hua felt that Mister Zhuang's posture was truly proper and unrestrained, and his heart was somewhat envious. Mo Hua wanted to learn Mister Zhuang's method of eating slowly and elegantly, chopstick by chopstick, but he still couldn't quite manage it. It was more or less awkward, so he finally honestly held up the bowl and scooped rice.

Although the taste of the food wasn't very good, the ingredients were all top-notch and contained spiritual energy. Moreover, Mo Hua wasn't too picky about food to begin with.

Kui Lao saw Mo Hua eating heartily and gave him several more pieces of meat.

After finishing the meal, Mister Zhuang seemed to finally remember why Mo Hua had come. He then led Mo Hua to a bamboo pavilion in the courtyard. There was a clear breeze on all sides and the sound of rustling bamboo.

"I have also accepted disciples before, but what they learned was different from you, so it's not easy to generalize. Let me first see what level of array magic you have learned."

Mister Zhuang then asked Mo Hua several questions, and Mo Hua answered them one by one.

After Mo Hua finished answering, Mister Zhuang pondered for a moment, took out a thick classic, and pointed it at Mo Hua, saying:"Your knowledge of array theory and related concepts is too weak. What you have learned are basically some basic array patterns, scattered and not comprehensive. With such an unstable foundation, it will be difficult to understand more profound array magic later on, and you won't be able to go far on the path of array magic."

Mister Zhuang handed the classic to Mo Hua, saying:"You still need to start from the most basic things. Inside are some basic array theories related to array magic in the cultivation world, including different schools, attributes, and lineages. You should first memorize these thoroughly. Understand what you can, and ask me if you can't. Once your array theory foundation is firm, I will teach you how to draw arrays."

Mo Hua received the thick array magic classic and said: "Thank you, Mister!"

Mister Zhuang waved his hand. "Just find a comfortable spot in the courtyard and read. I need to close my eyes and nourish my spirit."

Mo Hua took his leave, then hugged the Array Law Source Theory and found a shaded grassy area under a tree. He lay down on the soft grass and opened the book.

The beginning of the Source Theory clearly stated that ancient immortals looked up to observe the stars, bowed down to examine the earth, comprehended the heavenly way from the evolution of all things in heaven and earth, and manifested it as array magic. By operating array magic to imitate the movement of the heavenly way, they possessed immeasurable mysterious power. Among the hundred professions of cultivation, only array magic was the most direct and fundamental method of comprehending the heavenly way, and at the same time, it was also the cultivation category that required the strictest divine sense.

The division of array masters was based on nine grades, with nine grades being the highest, and above nine grades was immortal, called immortal array master. However, immortal array masters were just legends. In the past two ten thousand years, no one had truly become an immortal, and naturally, no one had become an immortal array master. No one knew what an immortal array that could change heaven and earth truly looked like.

Not only immortal array masters, but even nine-grade array masters had no records. Eight grades were also legends. Those with records were some six or seven-grade array masters, all of whom were giants from world families, big clans, ancient sects, or great elders of the Dao Court and so on, already unattainable cultivation powers.

After five grades down to three grades, there were more records of some array masters. Below that, there were none. Obviously, array masters of a lower grade, unless they had unprecedented creations in array magic, were not qualified to be recorded in books.

After recording the history of array magic, there were some shallow analyses of different schools of array magic and various array magic terms. Due to different world families, sects, and regions, the schools of array magic were also greatly different. Even the same array magic inheritance could sometimes be subdivided into multiple small lineages. Different lineage inheritances would have subtle differences in the learning, research, and use and effects of array magic. Each major force regarded their core array magic as a secret and studied and applied it individually, leading to a situation where array magic in the cultivation world bloomed with a hundred flowers and each adhered to its own path.

Array magic was divided according to the categories of array cores, such as Two Yi Array, Three Talents Array, Four Symbols Array, Five Elements Array, Six Harmonies Array, Seven Stars Array, Eight Trigrams Array, etc. The most widely spread and used were the Five Elements Array and the Eight Trigrams Array, while other different arrays also had their own uses.

......

Mo Hua spent the better part of the day roughly flipping through the Array Law Source Theory. After reading it, he felt suddenly enlightened and at the same time felt even more insignificant. For Mo Hua, becoming a first-grade array master was still not easy, let alone what seven, eight, nine grades, or even immortal grades were. The path of arrays was like a vast sea, and a first-grade array master was not Mo Hua; he was now just a grain of sand in the vast sea.