Chapter 226: The Seventh Layer
After the bustling festivities of the New Year, Mo Hua turned thirteen.
He had grown a little taller, but only just a little. At a glance, he still looked like the same small cultivator as before.
Mo Hua's days were now largely devoted to cultivation, aside from occasionally sketching formation diagrams.
He had already reached the peak of the sixth layer of Qi-Refining. It would not be long before he touched the bottleneck of his cultivation and faced the threshold to the mid-stage.
Once he broke through that bottleneck, he would step into the late stage of Qi-Refining.
And the late stage of Qi-Refining was one step closer to Foundation Establishment.
The cultivation world was vast, with countless cultivators. Those in the Qi-Refining stage were like ants, and entering Foundation Establishment marked the first true transformation of one's Dao path.
Foundation Establishment was the laying of the foundation for the Dao.
No matter how firm one's Dao heart might be, without building that foundation, all else was empty talk.
...
That morning, at the hour of the hare (5 a.m. – 7 a.m.), Mo Hua rose and began his daily cultivation as usual.
Suddenly, his Qi Sea trembled, and the circulation of spiritual power quickened.
Mo Hua's spirit lifted. He immediately took out several spirit stones and began cultivating in earnest. The spirit stones were refined into pure spiritual energy that gathered in his Qi Sea until it was full to overflowing.
Then, just like the first time he had broken through, that overflowing power surged upward through his meridians, converging at the Baihui acupoint atop his head. When it reached the Heavenly Gate, it split into fine threads that seeped inward into his Sea of Consciousness, weaving together a luminous spiritual veil.
That spiritual veil was a puzzle formation, the bottleneck that one had to unravel when cultivating the Celestial Evolution Art.
Mo Hua felt both anticipation and unease. He calmed his mind and began to comprehend the puzzle formation.
After a short while, he exhaled softly in relief.
The formation lines on the veil were in the hundreds, chaotic and intricate. To anyone other than a formation master, it would have been utterly incomprehensible.
Yet upon careful observation, Mo Hua found that most of the lines—though obscure and ever-shifting—still belonged to the Five Elements system. He could recognize them.
As long as he could recognize them, he could unravel them.
Recalling the foundational principles of formation-breaking, Mo Hua employed the interactions of the Five Elements, the integration and dissolution of formation lines, and the laws of forward and reverse spiritual flow to solve them one by one.
After half a day, he had already deciphered more than ten of the formation lines.
A surge of joy welled up in his heart.
The process was going far more smoothly than he had imagined.
Thanks to Mister Zhuang's teachings and his own tireless practice, especially his study and application of first-grade composite formations, Mo Hua's formation skills and comprehension had already reached the pinnacle among first-grade formation masters.
Now, these puzzle formations could be broken through solely by his own ability.
The spiritual threads on the veil intertwined and shifted in intricate patterns, yet what made ordinary cultivators despair and even experienced formation masters blanch, was to Mo Hua as clear and orderly as a painting.
All the painstaking effort he had poured into formation studies had proven worthwhile.
Only the sheer number of formations made the process time-consuming.
Thus, Mo Hua immersed himself completely, forgetting sleep and food, working ceaselessly to unravel the formations.
Sometimes he would drift into thought even while eating or walking, frowning one moment, enlightened the next, pondering deeply, then brightening with sudden understanding.
Other cultivators around him, seeing this, knew he must be comprehending something important and quietly refrained from disturbing him.
At last, after a full month, Mo Hua deciphered the final formation.
The spiritual veil dissolved in an instant; the mysterious threads of energy faded away, merging back into his Sea of Consciousness.
His Sea of Consciousness expanded slightly, his Divine-Sense grew denser, and his spiritual power became more profound.
He had finally broken through the bottleneck, becoming a seventh-layer Qi-Refining cultivator.
The seventh layer marked the late stage of Qi-Refining.
Mo Hua was overjoyed. His cultivation had advanced a crucial step forward. From here on, steady and methodical progress would bring him ever closer to Foundation Establishment.
No one was happier about Mo Hua's breakthrough than Liu Ruhua and Mo Shan.
Following custom, they held a banquet, inviting neighbors and friendly cultivators.
Mo Hua received many gifts, Elder Yu, Master Chen, Elder Feng, several demon hunters, and even Master Luo and other formation masters sent presents.
After the lively celebration, Mo Hua settled his heart and began to consider his next course of action.
In terms of cultivation, there was no shortcut, only perseverance and patient progress.
As for techniques, he wanted to learn one or two new spells as preparation for unexpected dangers.
Although his strength had increased, greater power often attracted greater risks. Having more skills could only help.
The trouble was, he did not know from whom to learn.
He had no suitable spell manuals himself.
It would be inappropriate to bother Grandpa Kui again. Grandpa Kui had already "taught him how to fish," and it would be improper to return asking for fish.
When it was time to find his own path, he had to rely on himself.
There was no rush; he could take his time.
What truly made Mo Hua hesitate, however, was formation study.
He had already reached the level of a first-grade formation master and had even studied the more difficult composite formations. Yet since he was still far from Foundation Establishment, he could not advance to second-grade formations.
So what should he study in the meantime?
Continue with composite formations?
He was already well-versed in ordinary ones, and the more advanced varieties merely required stronger formation cores, something his Divine-Sense could not yet support.
He already understood the principles of composite formations, especially those of the Five Elements type. Further study would only broaden his scope, not deepen his mastery.
Such repetition began to feel tedious.
Then should he study Grand Formations instead?
His knowledge of grand formations was still superficial. He only knew they were large-scale composite formations, nothing more.
Even if he wanted to study them, he could only simulate them on the Dao Stele within his Sea of Consciousness; practically, he could not draw one.
Grand Formations required enormous resources, massive formation medium, mountains of spirit stones, and many cultivators to assist. None of that was within Mo Hua's reach.
There was also one other matter that puzzled him: Divine-Sense.
His Divine-Sense was already extraordinarily strong, greater even than that of most ninth-layer Qi-Refining cultivators, and far superior to the average first-grade formation master.
Yet compared to the Divine-Sense of Foundation Establishment cultivators, there was still a vast gap.
His Divine-Sense continued to grow, strengthened by the Dao Stele and honed through formation practice. With further breakthroughs, it would increase again.
So, would there come a day when his Divine-Sense, though he had yet to establish his foundation, could rival that of a Foundation Establishment cultivator?
Where exactly lay the boundary between the Divine-Sense of Qi-Refining and that of Foundation Establishment?
This question exceeded Mo Hua's current understanding, so he went to consult Mister Zhuang.
Upon seeing Mo Hua, Mister Zhuang's expression remained calm, but inwardly he sighed.
"This child's Divine-Sense… has grown even stronger."
He truly did not know how to guide him anymore.
Mo Hua bowed respectfully and asked, "Sir, should I continue studying composite formations?"
"Yes" Mister Zhuang replied evenly.
"Oh."
Mo Hua felt that continuing with composite formations was rather dull, but he did not say so aloud.
Mister Zhuang asked, "What kind of puzzle formation did you encounter in your Sea of Consciousness this time?"
Mo Hua thought for a moment. "Still Five Elements patterns, only of a higher grade, mostly first-grade formations, with some composite ones mixed in."
Mister Zhuang was silent for a while, then sighed softly. "In that case, building your foundation will not be easy."
(End of Chapter)