Chapter 662: Array Medium

"You don't believe me?" Cheng Mo said with a displeased expression.

Mo Hua ate the steamed bun in his hand with a serious and cultured air, saying perfunctorily, "I believe you..."

But from his appearance, it was clear he didn't believe it.

"Let me tell you, you might not know how dangerous the cultivation world is. When people truly act, it's often a fight of life and death..." Cheng Mo said.

"Okay." Mo Hua's expression remained indifferent.

Cheng Mo sighed, "Why don't you understand?"

He snatched a steamed bun from Mo Hua's hand, stuffed it into his mouth, swallowed it in two or three bites, and continued, "You are an array master. While array masters are formidable, that's because within the sect or in places managed by the Dao Ting Si, everyone gets along peacefully, respects identity, and saves face..."

Mo Hua was unhappy that his steamed bun was snatched.

Cheng Mo quickly gave Mo Hua the "chicken leg" from his own bowl.

Mo Hua picked up the chicken leg, ate a few bites, and nodded with satisfaction.

Cheng Mo's eyes brightened slightly. Seizing the opportunity while Mo Hua was in a good mood, he quickly said, "Let me take you..."

"An array master's methods must be planned in advance. Otherwise, if you respond to a battle hastily and are unprepared, you'll be very passive."

"Under a sudden attack, if things go wrong, your life could be gone just like that..."

"So, when cultivators truly fight and display their killing intent, array masters also need to cling to 'big legs'!"

"Oh..." Mo Hua gnawed on the chicken leg and blinked, "Then who is the 'big leg'?"

Cheng Mo immediately patted his chest:

"Me!"

"Let me tell you, that pair of big axes of mine are passed down from the Cheng family ancestors. They can kill gods if they block the way and Buddhas if they block the way. If you follow me, I'll show you my might!"

"You can also earn merit..."

Mo Hua looked at him suspiciously, "Cheng big guy, you don't have some hidden scheme, do you?"

Bringing someone to do tasks and share the merit?

Who did he think he was talking to, a fool?

Cheng Mo laughed awkwardly, "It's not that... it's just..."

Cheng Mo looked left and right, lowered his voice, and said, "Let's make a deal. I'll take you to do tasks, and you call me 'senior brother'!"

Mo Hua was a bit speechless, "Just this?"

Cheng Mo said unhappily, "What do you mean 'just this'? Do you understand the weight of the words 'senior brother'?"

Mo Hua shook his head.

Cheng Mo gritted his teeth.

It was truly a case of being parched to death during a drought and flooded to death during a flood.

Some people didn't appreciate what they had!

Cheng Mo said, "It's normal to call those in a higher generation 'senior brother' or 'senior sister'; this is politeness."

"For disciples of the same generation, being called 'senior brother' or 'senior sister' is about face and prestige!"

"So..."

Cheng Mo said quietly, "I'll take you on tasks, and you call me senior brother. From now on, we'll help each other out. You call me senior brother, and I'll also call you senior brother..."

"Then you're not taking advantage, are you?" Mo Hua didn't understand.

Cheng Mo said with a magnanimous expression, "It doesn't matter, as long as I don't lose out!"

Mo Hua nodded, then suddenly felt something was off. He thought for a moment and shook his head:

"That's not right..."

"Here with me, you won't get any advantage..."

"But in front of Si Tu Jian and the others, it's different..."

"They call me 'little senior brother'. If I then call you 'senior brother', then by extension, you also become their senior brother!"

Cheng Mo's old face turned red.

He hadn't expected that his carefully thought-out little scheme would be seen through so clearly by Mo Hua in the time it took him to eat a chicken leg...

Mo Hua gently hummed:

"You just didn't consider that I am the 'little senior brother' and I need to save face for those who call me little senior brother. I can't let them be one generation lower than you!"

Cheng Mo's expression stiffened.

Mo Hua quickly finished the chicken leg and felt full. He was about to leave.

Cheng Mo was still persistently trying:

"Mo Hua!"

"Little senior brother!"

"Being an array master is really difficult..."

"Don't you want to go outside the sect to experience the world, apprehend criminal cultivators, slay demons, eliminate devils, and uphold righteousness?"

"Don't you want to experience the thrill of cutting down a demonic cultivator with your own hands?"

"I can beat them half to death and let you finish them off with a magic trick!"

Mo Hua remained unmoved.

Cheng Mo added, "Furthermore, if you stay in the sect all day, you won't earn much merit, right..."

Mo Hua stopped, turned his head, stood on tiptoe, and patted Cheng Mo's shoulder. He sighed, "I draw second-grade arrays. The merit I earn is actually much, much more than your fighting and killing..."

Cheng Mo stood dumbfounded, his emotions extremely complicated.

After that, Mo Hua's life continued as usual.

Cultivating, attending classes, drawing arrays.

Occasionally, he would have free time to practice his Break Gold Imperial Sword Art sword qi.

Cheng Mo still went out to do tasks, but he would occasionally think about it and even bribe Mo Hua with good food, advising Mo Hua to follow him, and call him "senior brother".

Mo Hua's Dao heart was firm, and he adhered to his principles, ignoring him.

Cheng Mo had no other choice.

After another period of time, more and more disciples went out to do tasks under Cheng Mo's leadership.

Disciples in Tai Xu Gate were originally all geniuses. Five people forming a group to hunt Foundation Establishment early stage criminal cultivators for their "bounty" was not difficult even if they didn't succeed, and they wouldn't suffer losses.

Coordinating with each other and dealing with criminal cultivators, they completed their tasks.

For them, this was also a necessary form of tempering.

Gradually, these disciples from influential families, like Mo Hua, also began to grow up.

Even if they couldn't handle overly ferocious evil cultivators, apprehending ordinary criminal cultivators was not a difficult matter.

This was also within Mo Hua's expectations.

Disciples from influential families had superior talent and strength.

Even if they were raised in influential families without much travel or adventure experience, going out for a few tasks, encountering some setbacks, stumbling and fumbling, they would slowly adapt.

Senior Sister Murong and the others were also like this.

Even before Tai Xu Gate, it should have been taught this way.

Through tasks, step by step, controlling the "difficulty", gradually tempering the disciples until they could stand on their own.

However, this had nothing to do with Mo Hua personally.

These kinds of tasks were too simple, and the merit was not much. He was too lazy to do them.

Mo Hua thought of something else.

Cheng Mo's words earlier reminded him.

"An array master's methods must be planned in advance. Otherwise, if you respond to a battle hastily and are unprepared, you'll be very passive."

"Under a sudden attack, if things go wrong, your life could be gone just like that..."

An array master's methods require advance planning...

This made Mo Hua realize a problem:

"How exactly do general array masters utilize arrays in combat?"

When he was in Tong Xian City, he used arrays as traps.

Killing the great demon Feng Xi and setting up the Five Elements Slaughter Demon Great Array was also a "trap" that integrated killing. He first trapped Feng Xi and then slaughtered it like a pig.

After reaching Foundation Establishment and learning to control ink with divine sense, it became simple.

Drawing and using on the spot was fine...

But how did other Foundation Establishment array masters specifically use arrays in actual combat?

Mo Hua had really not carefully considered this point.

Mo Hua thought about it and felt somewhat blank. He couldn't help but sigh.

Perhaps this was the trouble with learning arrays too well.

Some of the most fundamental things could be overlooked if one wasn't careful...

"Array practical application..."

During this period, Mo Hua decided to thoroughly research this.

He originally wanted to ask Old Mister Xun.

But upon reflection, this kind of problem shouldn't be a particularly high-level array problem. Asking Old Mister Xun was a bit like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut.

Moreover, it might arouse Old Mister Xun's suspicion.

Especially the phrase "practical application," which didn't sound peaceful at all.

It didn't sound like a question a small cultivator who had just entered the sect, "never left home," and was engrossed in researching arrays every day would ask.

Mo Hua then went to find Zheng Fang.

The Zheng family was a family specializing in arrays. Although their ancestral inheritance was a thunder system array, which was extremely rare and not passed outside, even the direct lineage was not guaranteed to receive it.

But apart from this, some basic array inheritance, including application, should be very complete.

Zheng Fang often discussed array problems with Mo Hua.

He had a square face and a serious personality. He did things methodically, like a "little scholar."

No matter what array problem it was, he researched it very seriously.

Regarding the things Mo Hua asked him, except for some prohibited array inheritance, Zheng Fang always spoke everything he knew and explained everything clearly.

"Array practical application is fundamentally about arrays, but the 'application' part is involved. The most crucial aspect is actually the 'array medium'."

"Array medium?"

"Yes." Zheng Fang nodded, "My uncle-ancestor once said that the great Dao of heaven and earth forms 'arrays', and all things in heaven and earth are 'array mediums'."

"However, among all things that can serve as 'array mediums', there are also many differences..."

"Some things naturally absorb spiritual ink, fit array patterns, and are inherently suitable for use as 'array mediums'..."

"While some things are either loose and formless, or flow without a fixed pattern, or are mixed without fixed principles, making them unsuitable..."

Zheng Fang paused here and used a more rigorous phrasing:

"They are very difficult to use as 'array mediums'..."

"There are also some, but very few..."

"Only some great array masters, whose comprehension of the rules of heaven and earth is different from ordinary people, can 'turn stone into gold,' transforming decay into magic, and engrave array patterns on some 'array mediums' that are considered 'non-array mediums' according to common sense..."

Mo Hua couldn't help but nod.

Zheng Fang continued, "So the array medium, in the study of arrays, is just a 'medium', but in the application of arrays, it is the 'foundation'."

"Even the most advanced arrays require a matching 'array medium' as the base for the array."

"And the history of array mediums is just as long..."

Zheng Fang looked like he could talk for a long time.

"In the beginning, array masters definitely found and used the array mediums themselves..."

"Later, as the cultivation world developed and categories were subdivided, array masters couldn't even learn all the arrays, let alone spend a large amount of time refining array mediums themselves..."

"So the matter of refining 'array mediums'..."

Mo Hua's eyes brightened, "That's just handed over to the tool refiners?"

Zheng Fang nodded, "Yes."

He then took out a map collection from his storage bag.

On the map collection, several simple spirit tool models were drawn.

"Array paper, for example, is the most basic and cheapest array medium..."

"Other various spirit tool array mediums include array flags, array plates, array orders, array stones, array bases, etc..."

"These are all refined separately by tool refiners."

Mo Hua was a bit puzzled, "But the refining of these array mediums doesn't seem to be taught within the sect."

Zheng Fang nodded again, "The sect doesn't teach it..."

"Just like arrays are divided into many categories, such as the five elements and eight trigrams, two instruments and three talents, four images and seven stars, etc., among the major categories..."

"Among the smaller categories, there are Yuan magnetic arrays..."

"The disparity between each category of arrays is very large..."

"Similarly, tool refining is also subdivided into many categories, such as array medium refining, Dao robe refining, armor refining, weapon refining, accessory refining, etc..."

"As well as various spirit tools needed for cultivators' lives and production, like lamps, incense burners, screens, elixir furnaces..."

"General tool refiners also only choose one or two categories to specialize in, aiming for precision in refining."

"The sect also won't teach everything; it will only select some of the most important, largest in volume, and most widely applicable branches of tool refining to teach..."

"Array medium spirit tools have a narrow application and are obviously not among them..."

"So that's how it is..."

Mo Hua suddenly realized, and sighed inwardly.

The knowledge within the cultivation path was really very profound and complex. If he didn't carefully ask and patiently learn, there were many things within it that he simply wouldn't know...

Mo Hua praised, "You understand so much!"

Zheng Fang looked happy but still said reservedly, "Just a little..."

Mo Hua then roughly understood.

Array mediums were the foundation of array application.

When he was in Tong Xian City, because it was a small immortal city and the inheritance was limited, the level of array support was also limited.

Mo Hua was still a small array master in the Qi Refining period, and the array mediums he used were all very crude.

He often made do; as long as it could be used, it was fine.

He didn't have any concrete concept in his mind either.

After he reached Foundation Establishment, his divine sense underwent a qualitative change, and using "the ground as a medium" directly bypassed many limitations of "array mediums".

But this was actually not very good either...

After careful consideration, Mo Hua felt that some things could be unused by himself, but they couldn't be absent, and even more, he couldn't not know them.

He couldn't ignore the "ordinary" methods of arranging arrays just because his own methods were unusual.

These foundational methods were the result of the painstaking efforts and crystallization of so many array masters in the cultivation world who had researched, iterated, and used them for a long time.

Among them, there might be a huge and precious amount of "array application" experience and practical thinking about arrays.

Mo Hua nodded, correcting his attitude.

He also wanted to learn how to use "array mediums" to strengthen the application of arrays.

Array application should be based on array mediums.

"Array medium..."

Mo Hua inquired within the sect.

Indeed, there were disciples skilled in tool refining, but almost no disciples were skilled in refining spirit tools as "array mediums".

A few knew how, but what they refined were all more basic than "array paper" and "array plates".

These kinds of array papers and array plates could be bought casually.

Moreover, the combination of arrays and array mediums in this form was also the most basic kind and didn't have much research value.

"It would be best to have some special array mediums..."

Mo Hua considered it. He wanted to release a bounty in the Tai Xu Order, but he was reluctant to spend the merit points.

After all, merit was very valuable.

Moreover, he currently knew very little about "array medium" category tool refining. Even if he released a bounty, he wouldn't know exactly what kind of spirit tool array medium he wanted to refine.

"It's not possible within the sect. Should I go outside the sect to inquire?"

Mo Hua thought silently.

Then he took advantage of the ten days of rest and went to the Gu family.

The Gu family was also considered a major family.

Even though their power was not as great as the Shang Guan family, they were still much more powerful than the Qian family and Lu family he had encountered.

Within the family, there were necessarily industries.

Among these industries, it was impossible not to have tool refining.

After all, tool refining was one of the four major industries in the cultivation path.

Since there was a tool refining industry, even if they didn't specifically do the business of refining array mediums, the tool refiners within them would more or less understand some of the tricks of array medium refining.

This was within Qian Xue state's territory. Those who could make a living from "tool refining" definitely had real skills.

Gu Chang Huai was busy with Dao Ting Si matters and hadn't returned.

Mo Hua didn't think of finding him either.

As a Dian Si of the Dao Ting Si, he wouldn't necessarily pay attention to the Gu family's industries.

Mo Hua then found Wen Ren Wan.

Wen Ren Wan thought for a moment and said, "Array medium spirit tools..."

"The Gu family seemed to have done this kind of business before, I forgot if it was selling paper or selling array plates, but the profit wasn't good, so they stopped..."

"They don't have it now?"

Mo Hua was a little disappointed.

Wen Ren Wan said, "The tool refining line was cut, but the tool refiners still stayed in the tool refining line, just refining other spirit tools..."

Mo Hua's eyes brightened, "Can I go visit them?"

Wen Ren Wan nodded, "Of course you can, but the industries that the Shang Guan family and Gu family cooperate on are scattered throughout Qian Xue state's territory and its surrounding immortal cities..."

"There are quite a few tool refining lines among them. I also don't know where these tool refiners were transferred to. I need to ask someone to find out..."

"Okay, okay," Mo Hua said with a smile, "Thank you, Aunt Wan!"

An hour later, Wen Ren Wan had inquired clearly.

"It's in Gu Shan City, which is quite far. It would probably take a day and a night to come back. Do you want to go?"

Mo Hua was slightly stunned, "A day and a night..."

"Yes." Wen Ren Wan said with some hesitation, "Or, should I have someone invite the tool refiner back for you to ask?"

Mo Hua thought for a moment and shook his head:

"I'll go myself."

He was the one seeking help, so it wasn't right to trouble others to make a trip back.

Tool refiners in the tool refining line were usually very busy refining tools.

Mo Hua had experienced this deeply when he was in Tong Xian City.

Wen Ren Wan nodded, "Okay, I'll have someone send you."

"No need," Mo Hua said.

Wen Ren Wan looked at Mo Hua, feeling a little uneasy.

Mo Hua then smiled awkwardly and whispered, "I still want to play along the way..."

Wen Ren Wan was stunned for a moment, thinking to herself that he was still a child and still a bit playful.

"It's very dangerous outside..." Wen Ren Wan reminded him.

"It's okay," Mo Hua said, "I have the transmission talisman order that Uncle Gu gave me, and I also have the Dao Ting Si waist token. If I encounter danger, I can still run..."

Wen Ren Wan sighed.

She knew Mo Hua had his own ideas, so she no longer insisted.

"Then be careful."

"Okay!" Mo Hua nodded.

After that, Mo Hua rode the Gu family's carriage alone, leaving Qing state city and heading to the remote Gu Shan city.

Mo Hua had planned it out.

First, go to Gu Shan city, visit the Gu family's tool refiner, and ask him to teach him some knowledge about refining array medium spirit tools.

For example, what are the specific differences between array flags, array plates, array bases, etc., as array mediums?

What kind of array medium is suitable for different arrays?

Then he would consider how to better combine arrays and array mediums based on the situation, expanding his means of array application.

On the way back, he would detour through Ku Shan Broken Temple.

He would buy some wine, meat, pastries, and spiritual fruits, and visit his "old friend," the fallen mountain god Huang Shan Jun.

He hadn't seen him in a long time, and Mo Hua really missed him.

He also didn't know how Huang Shan Jun was doing lately.

He must be very happy to see him, right.

(End of this chapter)