Chapter 79: Earthfire Array
That night, Mo Hua lay in bed, unable to sleep.
First, he was a little worried about Dà Hu and the other two.
Second, he realized—he was a cultivator now, yet he had no means of attack or defense whatsoever.
Tōngxiān City was peaceful and its cultivators were honest and good-natured; he had never encountered any danger growing up.
But just because he hadn't met danger didn't mean he never would.
And when that day came, he couldn't just sit and wait to die.
Mo Hua wasn't a body cultivator—his blood and qi were weak—so martial techniques were out of the question. That left only spells.
But his spiritual power wasn't strong, and at the fourth layer of Qi-Refining, his cultivation was still too low to learn most spells…
After thinking it over, the only thing he could rely on was formation arts.
"Is there any kind of formation that can attack?"
Mo Hua got up, took out the Compendium of a Thousand Formations given to him by Mister Zhuang, and began flipping through it.
"Icicle Array—seven runes, but I haven't learned ice-type runes, and the spiritual ink is too rare…"
"Thunderfire Array—sounds powerful… nine runes though, forget it."
"Wooden Prison Array—not for offense…"
"Fire Breath Array—three runes, but too weak…"
...
After flipping through for a long while, Mo Hua finally chose the Earthfire Array.
It required seven runes, used cheap ink, was easy to set up, and used fire-type runes he was already familiar with. Once activated, it would self-detonate—its power shouldn't be too bad.
Mo Hua was satisfied. After midnight, he began practicing the Earthfire Array on the Dao Stele within his Sea of Consciousness'.
It wasn't difficult. After practicing a few times through the night, he had it memorized. By morning, when he tried drawing it on paper, it succeeded within a few attempts.
Just as he was about to activate it, a chilling thought hit him—
Once he injected spiritual power, wouldn't the Earthfire Array immediately activate and explode?
Wouldn't that blow his whole house apart?
With his tiny frame, even if he survived, he'd probably end up half-dead!
Cold sweat ran down Mo Hua's back.
He flipped through the annotations in the Compendium of a Thousand Formations, which read:
Upon infusion of spiritual power, the formation detonates after three breaths, dealing fire-type spiritual damage.
"So it means—infuse spiritual power, wait three breaths… that's about three seconds, and then it explodes. The explosion's strength is about equal to a fire cultivator's spell of the same level."
…That's a landmine.
Mo Hua couldn't help but think to himself.
Either way, there was no way he was testing that inside his home.
So, later that morning, he drew two more Earthfire Arrays. Then, in the afternoon, he left home and went to a secluded grove at the foot of a mountain outside the city.
He placed the array beneath a tree and injected a small amount of spiritual power.
The formation glowed—but didn't explode.
Mo Hua crouched, resting his chin on his hand.
"It lit up, so the formation is fine. Since it didn't blow, that must mean I didn't infuse enough power."
If I inject enough spiritual power… will it explode immediately?
He hesitated. He wasn't a body cultivator; his physique could never handle a blast head-on.
He reread the Compendium carefully. It clearly said the explosion occurred three breaths after activation. He nodded.
"A formation master doesn't lie to another formation master. Besides, this book came from Mister Zhuang—no way it's wrong."
Gathering his courage, Mo Hua circulated his qi and poured a large amount of spiritual power into the array.
The runes flared with dazzling red light.
Mo Hua bolted, dove into a pit a few yards away, and hid his whole body inside.
He had chosen this location specifically for that pit—he'd even rehearsed several times beforehand to make sure his short arms and legs could reach cover within three breaths.
Then—BOOM!
The Earthfire Array exploded, fulfilling all his expectations. Mo Hua was delighted.
Though… the blast only tore a chunk out of the nearby tree, leaving some scorch marks. Lots of noise, not much damage—Mo Hua was less impressed.
Lighting this array wasn't like setting off a mine—it was like lighting a firecracker.
"A formation with seven runes should be way stronger than that…"
Mo Hua decided the problem wasn't with the array, but with himself.
"Could it be because my cultivation is too low, and my spiritual power too weak?"
If that was the case, then he'd need to use a spirit stone.
He placed another Earthfire Array beneath a different tree, gritted his teeth, and crushed a spirit stone, infusing the formation with the spirit energy inside.
This time, the runes glowed even brighter.
Mo Hua dashed back into the pit—
A thunderous bang echoed out, the shockwave making his ears ring. Branches cracked, and the tree that had taken the hit collapsed with a deafening crash.
Mo Hua peeked out and gasped.
The tree's trunk had a huge charred gap and was lying flat on the ground. The edges of the wound were blackened as if burned by intense flames.
"One spirit stone caused that much damage? Or am I really that weak?"
He felt a bit disheartened.
Still, the power of an Earthfire Array fueled by one spirit stone was quite satisfactory. He decided to make a few more later, just in case.
After confirming that nothing nearby had caught fire, Mo Hua happily went home.
Only the blasted tree remained, lonely and smoldered.
...
The next day, Elder Yu of the Demon Hunting Squad passed by, saw the scorched tree, and bellowed in anger:
"Go find out which bastard from the Demon Hunting Squad did this! Too much energy to hunt demons, so you come here blowing up trees instead? Think your cultivation's so great you can show off like this?!"
The burly squad members around him all shrank their heads and dared not say a word.
Elder Yu was not known for patience—and once he spoke, no one dared argue.
...
After the Demon Hunting Ceremony, Dà Hu and the other two became quite busy, either sparring at home or accompanying senior hunters into the mountains to gain experience.
On the second night of the festival, Mo Hua wandered the streets alone. Without his friends, even the lively festival felt somewhat dull.
Then, on the third day, after visiting Mister Zhuang and asking a few questions, Mo Hua was suddenly grabbed by Bai Zisheng.
"Take me with you!!"
Bai Zisheng's bright, handsome eyes stared intently at Mo Hua.
"Take you where?"
"The Demon Hunting Festival!" Bai Zisheng said. "I heard it lasts three days. Today's the last one—if we don't go now, we'll miss it!"
"It only happens once a year!"
"No one knows what'll happen next year! What if Zixi and I have to go elsewhere? We might never see it again! No, you have to take me!"
"But even if I want to, Aunt Xue won't agree," Mo Hua said helplessly.
"I've already thought about that!" Bai Zisheng's eyes gleamed. "We'll sneak out without telling her! Worst case, we get a beating. A real man stands tall—no fear of a little pain! Totally worth it!"
"Then… how exactly do you plan to hide it from Aunt Xue?"
Bai Zisheng thought for a moment, then slumped in defeat. "You're right… I can't. I've never managed to hide anything from her since I was little."
Seeing his dejected look, Mo Hua felt a bit sorry for him.
"Then how about this—talk to Aunt Xue. Finish your homework during the day, and maybe she'll let you out at night to walk around the festival."
"That… might work," Bai Zisheng nodded.
"Then hurry up and do your homework. If you don't finish, you won't even qualify to ask."
Revived by hope, Bai Zisheng immediately opened his books and started studying. After a few minutes, he looked up and asked,
"If she agrees, how do I find you?"
"At You hour—around dusk—I'll be waiting under the big tree at the street corner. If she says yes, I'll show you around. If not… I'll go by myself."
"It's a deal!" Bai Zisheng grinned.
"Mm, a deal."
(End of Chapter)