Chapter 64: Strange

"This is not meant to benefit intelligence and entertain," Kui Lao said as he appeared silently. Then he looked at Mr. Zhuang, hesitated slightly, and added, "At least for normal people, that is."

Mr. Zhuang frowned slightly. "Have you seen this kind of cultivation method before?"

Kui Lao shook his head slightly. "I've seen stranger cultivation methods, but none as strange as this..."

"I've seen methods where the bottlenecks are spirit stones, spirit roots, spirit objects, meridians, bloodlines, or even needing to kill people, demon beasts, or demon cultivators. I've even seen methods that require the blood energy, spirit power, and divine sense of living people as guides. But a bottleneck that is a puzzle array in the sea of consciousness – this is the first time I've seen such a situation."

Kui Lao then said lightly, "This kind of ancient, obscure cultivation method is only found in ancient sects like yours that stick to old ways."

Mr. Zhuang sighed slightly. "This is troublesome now."

"I told you earlier, there's no need to be different from others and learn cultivation methods that no one else learns. Mo Hua's spirit root was originally not good. Now that he's learned this obscure method, his cultivation will be hindered, and his progress will be much slower," Kui Lao said with a hint of blame.

"Everything needs a proper beginning and end. I will find a way."

"How do you plan to do that? Don't forget you cannot stay in this place for too long," Kui Lao's gaze was slightly cold.

"I must teach him how to solve arrays so he can comprehend and crack the puzzle array in his sea of consciousness himself," Mr. Zhuang said. "With Mo Hua's comprehension, it shouldn't take too long. After that, I can only leave it to his fate..."

"Are you not going to look after those two children from the Bai family either?"

"Taking them as nominal disciples is already an exception; it's impossible to take them as direct disciples. My junior sister is too calculating; she's schemed against me my whole life. I can't let her scheme everything."

"Also, your eye for picking disciples has always been very poor, and it's the same with picking cultivation methods."

Mr. Zhuang wanted to retort, but when the words reached his lips, he felt that Kui Lao was right and swallowed them back.

Mo Hua obtained the jade slip from Mr. Zhuang and eagerly looked it up.

"Array law is derived from the principles of heaven and earth, depicting myriad phenomena, possessing the ability to change heaven and earth, and power that is unpredictable to ghosts and gods. Familiar with the ways of heaven and earth and the principles of array law, one can both form arrays and solve them."

"Array medium, array pattern, array hub, and array eye constitute an array together. Damaging its array medium or destroying its array eye is called breaking the array; solving its array pattern or reversing its array hub is called solving the array."

"All things have mutual generation and restraint, and array patterns are also like this. Yin and Yang restrain each other, the Three Talents reverse each other, the Four Symbols control each other, and among the Five Elements, Metal restrains Wood, Wood restrains Earth, Earth restrains Water, Water restrains Fire, and Fire restrains Metal..."

...

The content about solving arrays in the jade slip was extensive and vast.

Mo Hua seemed to understand some parts, but upon closer thought, he didn't understand them very well. While frowning and pondering, Bai Zi Sheng secretly peeked over. "Eh, why are you reading a book about solving arrays?"

"Mr. asked me to."

"Oh."

"Do you know how to solve arrays?" Mo Hua asked.

"I know a little, but I'm not skilled."

Knowing a little still counts as knowing, at least more than himself.

Mo Hua pointed at a spot in the book and asked humbly, "It says here, what's the difference between breaking an array and solving an array?"

Bai Zi Sheng didn't hide anything and explained:

"Breaking an array generally refers to using force to destroy the array medium that the array law relies on to exist and the array eye that the array law borrows to operate, forcefully breaking the array. Without an array medium, the array law is difficult to exist. Without an array eye, the array law cannot operate, and the array law is naturally broken..."

"Solving an array is more troublesome. It relies on understanding the mutual generation and restraint of array patterns within the array law. By drawing out the array patterns to solve them, the array patterns are nullified, and the array law is naturally solved. Generally, only array masters have the ability to solve arrays."

"You don't understand how to solve arrays, do you?" Bai Zi Sheng asked after finishing.

"No," Mo Hua wasn't too embarrassed and said a bit shyly, "I just don't quite understand the difference between array eye, array hub, and array medium..."

Bai Zi Sheng said "Wa" in surprise. "How do you not know any of this?"

Mo Hua countered, "If I knew everything, would I still ask you? If I don't ask you, how can it show that you know more?"

Bai Zi Sheng rubbed his chin. "That seems reasonable."

He turned his head and saw that his sister Bai Zi Xi's mouth seemed to have a hint of a smile. He reacted and called out again:

"Still not right, I can't teach for free!"

"Then I'll bring you a plate of beef tomorrow?"

Bai Zi Sheng snorted coldly. "What kind of person do you take me for? I am a direct descendant of the Bai family, a proud son of heaven. You think just one plate of beef is enough?"

"Two plates?"

"...Alright."

"Then what are the array eye, array medium, and array hub respectively?" Mo Hua seized the opportunity to ask.

Bai Zi Sheng got two plates of beef and was satisfied. He explained:

"The array eye is the core of the array law's operation, providing spirit power for its operation. Generally speaking, the array eye of a single array is a spirit gathering array pattern. The array eye of a complex array composed of multiple single arrays is a spirit gathering array. More powerful array laws require more spirit power for the array eye. Some protective great arrays of world families and sects even need an entire spirit mine as the spirit power supply for the array eye..."

"The array hub is the central point of the array law, and also the layout of the array law. There are many principles involved here. Generally, it follows the principle of Heaven Round and Earth Square, Two Instruments and Four Symbols, and the positions of the Eight Trigrams. Array patterns of different attributes need to be drawn in corresponding positions, otherwise the array patterns cannot take effect..."

"Array laws from different schools and different inheritances have differences in their array hubs. It's too complex to explain. You don't need to consider this for now. With our current experience in array law, it's impossible to solve an array through the array hub..."

"The array medium is the carrier of the array law. Array paper, stone tablets, copper, iron, earth, and wood – these things that carry array patterns become array mediums after drawing the array law. Some spirit tools also count as array mediums when they need to have array law attached..."

Seeing that Mo Hua seemed to understand but not quite, Bai Zi Sheng gave an example:

"Simply put, the array eye is like the heart pulse, the array hub is the main pulse of qi and blood flow, and the array patterns are the branch pulses of qi and blood. Spirit power is supplied by the array eye, with the array hub as the center, injected into the array patterns, just like qi and blood flowing from the heart pulse, smoothly flowing through the human body via the numerous blood pulses..."

Bai Zi Sheng rattled on for a while and then felt thirsty. Mo Hua personally poured a cup of tea and offered it to him.

"This... isn't this very basic array law knowledge?" Mo Hua asked weakly again.

"It counts as such. At least in our Bai family, this is all common knowledge for learning array law," Bai Zi Sheng said with a slight pride.

It was a good thing he had asked beforehand, otherwise, asking Mr. Zhuang about these shallow things would have made Mo Hua feel a bit too embarrassed.

"Tomorrow, I'll bring you another pot of osmanthus wine."

"Mm mm!" Bai Zi Sheng was overjoyed and nodded repeatedly.

Mo Hua asked some other things, such as how solving an array is usually done, how breaking an array is done, and which specific schools of array hubs exist, etc.

Unbeknownst to them, the sky gradually grew late. Mo Hua said goodbye to Bai Zi Sheng and Bai Zi Xi, packed his things, and prepared to go home.

"Mo Hua," Bai Zi Sheng suddenly called out to Mo Hua, his expression solemn. "Don't forget the most important point..."

"What?" Mo Hua looked at him doubtfully.

"The beef must be spicy!" Bai Zi Sheng said with a serious face.