Chapter 145: The Threshold
Mo Hua chatted with Fatty An for a while longer before Zhang Lan came over to say he was leaving and asked if he wanted to go too.
Mo Hua bade Fatty An farewell. Fatty An was reluctant to part, so Mo Hua told him to take some time to think carefully about what he truly wanted for himself.
In the end, one could only rely on oneself.
Fatty An nodded solemnly.
After leaving the An family, Zhang Lan and Situ Fang didn't head back right away. Instead, they followed Mo Hua all the way to his family's eatery, where they spent spirit stones buying plenty of wine and meat, saying they wanted to take it home to eat.
Their behavior left Mo Hua utterly puzzled.
They'd spent spirit stones to treat him to spirit dishes but didn't eat any themselves, and now they were spending even more to buy food from his family?
Mo Hua really didn't know what to say.
Still, since they had plenty of spirit stones, he let them do as they pleased.
Zhang Lan didn't like spirit cuisine, and Situ Fang—having once tasted Mo Hua's beef back in the mountains—hadn't forgotten it since.
Each bought a few catties of monster meat before bidding Mo Hua farewell.
Mo Hua suddenly remembered that he still had spirit dishes from the Lingxian Pavilion in his storage pouch, chicken, duck, fish, and meat, a whole lot of it.
He handed the food to his mother.
Liu Ruhua divided some among Madam Meng, Aunt Jiang, and other neighbors, keeping a bit for themselves. That evening, she remade the dishes so Mo Hua could taste them.
After eating, Mo Hua nodded. The flavor was finally right.
...
Over the next few days, Mo Hua continued cultivating and practicing array drawings as usual.
One early morning, while meditating, he felt his meridians tremble slightly.
He immediately took out more spirit stones to steady his mind and cultivate with full focus.
He didn't know how much time passed, but before long, his cultivation broke through.
Mo Hua's feelings were mixed.
When he'd tried his hardest before, he couldn't break through. Yet when he simply cultivated with a calm heart, he did so naturally.
Indeed, the Dao was all about accumulation, progress that came like flowing water when the time was right.
At last, he had reached Qi-Refining Sixth Layer!
Mo Hua's spirits soared.
He felt his Divine-Sense had grown stronger, and the unseen shackle that had limited its growth seemed to have quietly loosened.
Lifting his blanket, he saw a neat row of storage pouches by his bed, each filled with jade bottles, and every bottle filled with monster blood.
Packed tightly, over a thousand bottles!
Mo Hua intended to use these thousand bottles of monster blood to comprehend nine array runes and cross the threshold to become a First-grade Formation Master!
He opened The Thousand Arrays Compendium and found a specific formation: The First-grade Golden Armor Formation!
It was the first formation he planned to master that contained all nine runes.
He had long since memorized the runes perfectly, but his Divine-Sense had previously been too weak to draw them.
Now, with his cultivation at the Sixth Layer of Qi-Refining and his Divine-Sense enhanced, he could finally attempt a nine-rune formation.
Calming his heart, he spread the paper, prepared the spirit ink, dipped his brush, and began to draw the Golden Armor Formation.
The first eight runes flowed easily from his brush without obstruction, but when he reached the ninth, he suddenly felt his Divine-Sense straining.
"…No way."
Mo Hua was dumbfounded. When his Divine-Sense was nearly depleted, he'd only managed to finish eight and a half runes.
"How can it still fall short by this much?"
He set down his brush, resting his chin on his hand, thinking hard.
Logically, his cultivation breakthrough should have boosted his Divine-Sense considerably. So why could he only draw half a rune more?
He'd assumed that even if he couldn't complete all nine runes, he could at least sketch a rough version and refine it with practice.
But now it seemed… not so simple.
Mo Hua frowned, meditated to recover his Divine-Sense, and tried again several times, but the results barely improved.
...
That afternoon, he went to the Forgetful Meditation Abode to consult Mister Zhuang.
Mister Zhuang gave him a complex look and asked, "How many runes does the formation you're drawing have?"
"Nine."
"And your cultivation level?"
"Sixth layer."
Mo Hua didn't understand why he was asking that.
Mister Zhuang sighed quietly. "A breakthrough from Fifth to Sixth Layer, how could that possibly bridge the Divine-Sense gap between eight and nine runes?"
"Isn't it just one realm apart?"
"Qi-Refining Ninth Layer to Foundation Establishment is also 'just one realm apart,'" Mister Zhuang replied.
Mo Hua scratched his head awkwardly.
Patiently, Mister Zhuang continued, "Within every major realm, the higher you go, the slower your progress becomes. The gap between levels grows wider as you climb."
Mo Hua asked: "So the difference between eight and nine runes is much greater than before?"
Mister Zhuang nodded. "Generally, nine runes mark the limit of a First-grade Formation Master."
"To complete all nine in one breath requires perfect brushwork, flawless memory, deep insight into the array's core, and immense Divine-Sense strength and control."
"The gap between eight and nine runes may seem small, but it's a vast chasm. Many formation masters spend their entire lives circling that step, forever 'almost' at Grade One, yet never able to cross it."
Mister Zhuang sighed with emotion.
Mo Hua began to grow nervous. Would he be stuck at this threshold forever too?
Mister Zhuang, reading his thoughts, tapped him on the forehead. "You're still young. What's the rush? Go home and keep practicing with a calm heart."
Mo Hua relaxed.
So long as he kept painting arrays, he'd improve. Sometimes, the simplest path was the best one.
He nodded seriously.
After Mo Hua left, a gentle breeze stirred within the bamboo hut. Old Kui appeared behind Mister Zhuang and asked curiously: "How long will it take him to cross this 'threshold'?"
Mister Zhuang replied, "At shortest, three or four days; at longest, half a month."
Old Kui fell silent, then finally couldn't help saying, "You call that a threshold?"
"Ten days or half a month, that's not even a pebble, let alone a hurdle…"
Mister Zhuang smiled faintly. "When he broke through his realm, he lifted the shackle on his Divine-Sense. Its upper limit has expanded. Right now, he's still short, but after some practice, his Divine-Sense will strengthen. Then nine runes will no longer be difficult."
Old Kui was speechless.
Mister Zhuang raised an eyebrow. "For most people, nine runes is a true threshold. But Mo Hua's practiced too many arrays already, so for him, it's hardly one at all."
Old Kui snorted. "Then why did you waste so many words earlier?"
Mister Zhuang's eyes gleamed mischievously, and he smiled.
"I just wanted to tease him a bit, keep him humble."
...
After returning home, Mo Hua took Mister Zhuang's advice to heart. He calmed himself and continued practicing arrays diligently.
After a while, he could feel his Divine-Sense strengthening. The runes of the Golden Armor Formation came more naturally, each stroke smoother than before.
Encouraged, he pressed on.
Day by day, his Divine-Sense grew, and the formation lines grew steadier.
Ten days later, the Golden Armor Formation flowed naturally from his brush, like fruit ripened on the branch, a perfect, effortless completion.
Yet Mo Hua frowned.
…it didn't seem all that hard.
Wasn't there supposed to be a "threshold" between eight and nine runes? Where was it?
He thought back carefully but couldn't find where that supposed obstacle had been.
"What's going on?"
Mo Hua furrowed his brow even tighter, full of confusion.
Where was the threshold everyone spoke of…?
(End of Chapter)