After Mo Hua returned home, he ate dinner with his parents, then had his mother prepare some braised beef, pastries, and fermented rice wine. Afterward, he shut himself in his room and focused on studying how to dismantle arrays.
He first drew a fire-element Array Pattern on paper. Once completed, the pattern was pale red and carried a faint scorching heat.
Then, following the method in the book, Mo Hua drew a Water Array Pattern adjacent to the Kan position of the fire Array Pattern.
Once he finished, the red of the fire Array Pattern gradually dimmed. The hazy pale-red Lingli could no longer be seen, and when he touched it, he no longer felt that faint scorching heat.
This meant that the fire Array Pattern had failed.
Mo Hua's spirits lifted. He tried each of the other Five Elements Array Patterns in turn and found that, sure enough, Array Patterns could be used to dismantle Array Patterns through the principles of the Five Elements' generation and restraint.
Next came Array Techniques. Mo Hua spent some more time drawing a Bright Fire Formation.
The Bright Fire Formation consisted of three Array Patterns and was among the simplest kinds of Array Techniques.
When Mo Hua had copied Array Techniques for Manager Mo, the first one he had drawn had also been the Bright Fire Formation. Now, drawing it again took no effort at all.
In no more than the time it took to drink a cup of tea, a Bright Fire Formation with properly executed strokes had been outlined on the paper.
Mo Hua studied the Bright Fire Formation and pondered.
When he had drawn the Bright Fire Formation before, he had merely copied it without delving too deeply into it. Now, upon examining it closely, he discovered that within the