Chapter Summaries

Ten-year-old Mo Hua earned Spirit Stones by selling copied Array Techniques to wealthy disciples while worrying that poverty and weak aptitude would trap him in Qi Refining for life. After a day of lessons, he fell asleep and saw a mysterious Dao Stele appear in his Sea of Consciousness.

• Mo Hua sold Young Master An copied Five Elements Array homework with six deliberate mistakes for two Spirit Stones.
• Mo Hua gave Young Master Qian an Array Diagram and flattered him into believing that employing stronger cultivators proved his own importance.
• Mo Hua sold Array Techniques to several wealthy disciples and collected twelve Spirit Stones.
• Mo Hua reflected on how Rogue Cultivators lacked Spirit Stones and inheritance, and feared his weak body and ordinary Spirit Root would leave him stuck in Qi Refining.
• Mo Hua attended lessons, returned to the Disciple Quarters, and went to sleep after reading cultivation texts.
• A Broken Stele appeared in Mo Hua's Sea of Consciousness, and he recognized it as the Dao Stele.

Mo Hua reflected on the Dao Stele in his Sea of Consciousness, which let him practice array techniques and strengthen his divine sense. After mastering the two-pattern Dual Element Formation, he resolved to keep training until he became a First-Grade Array Master.

• Mo Hua recalled a hazy previous life in a world without spiritual energy and chose to focus on his life as a ten-year-old cultivator.
• Mo Hua explained how drawing and erasing array techniques on the Dao Stele restored and gradually strengthened his divine sense.
• Mo Hua considered the difficulty of becoming a First-Grade Array Master, including the Dao Court's strict assessments and limited quotas.
• Mo Hua practiced the Dual Element Formation on the Dao Stele night after night until he successfully drew its two Array Patterns.
• At dawn, Mo Hua felt refreshed after practicing all night and vowed to continue training toward becoming a First-Grade Array Master.

Mo Hua received his annual assessment results, earning an A in array techniques despite his poor cultivation grade and limited resources. After Instructor Yan defended him from a Qian Family disciple’s insults, Mo Hua left for the market, hoping to help his struggling parents.

• Mo Hua received his report card and saw that he had earned an A in array techniques, while his cultivation was rated B and his other grades varied.
• A Qian Family disciple mocked Mo Hua and claimed Rogue Cultivators could never become Array Masters.
• Mo Hua tricked the Qian Family disciple into turning around and finding Instructor Yan behind him.
• Instructor Yan punished the disciple and encouraged Mo Hua to keep studying without minding the insults.
• After the annual break was announced, Mo Hua thought of his parents’ hardships, took twelve Spirit Stones, and headed to the market instead of going home.

Mo Hua bought a defective Fire-Averting Hairpin and gave it to his mother, Liu Ruhua, to protect her from the fire energy at work. After spending the night practicing Array Techniques and meditating, he saw his bloodstained father, Mo Shan, return home.

• Mo Hua bargained with Old Man Sun and bought a Fire-Averting Hairpin for ten Spirit Stones.
• Mo Hua gave the hairpin to Liu Ruhua and explained how it could protect her while she worked in a restaurant kitchen.
• Liu Ruhua accepted the gift after Mo Hua placed the hairpin in her hair and showed her a mirror.
• Mo Hua ate dinner with Liu Ruhua, then practiced Array Techniques in his Sea of Consciousness through the night and meditated with a Spirit Stone.
• Mo Hua saw his bloodstained, travel-worn father, Mo Shan, enter the house.

Mo Shan returned home from a disastrous Monster Hunting expedition and told Liu Ruhua that Old Chu had been gravely injured, threatening his family’s livelihood. After hearing his parents discuss their hardships and Mo Shan’s plan to earn more Spirit Stones, Mo Hua wondered how he could help.

• Mo Shan returned home exhausted and bloodstained, and Liu Ruhua welcomed him while letting him eat and rest.
• Mo Shan told Liu Ruhua that a reckless Monster Hunting Squad had provoked a Wolf Demon, which killed two hunters and left Old Chu gravely injured.
• Liu Ruhua offered to lend Old Chu their savings, and Mo Shan planned to give him a larger share of the Wolf Demon’s sale and lend him more Spirit Stones.
• Mo Shan worried that the losses would affect Mo Hua’s tuition, but Liu Ruhua reassured him that they would find a way to pay for it.
• Liu Ruhua showed Mo Shan the Fire-Averting Hairpin Mo Hua had given her, and Mo Shan resolved to hunt in the Inner Mountain after the New Year.
• Mo Hua overheard his parents and wondered whether he could earn Spirit Stones to help them.

Mo Hua searched for ways to earn Spirit Stones and learned that ordinary array practitioners could make a living drawing arrays for trading firms. After visiting North Street, he entered a modest, quiet firm that displayed an Array Technique, hoping to find an opportunity.

• Mo Shan told Mo Hua Monster Hunting stories while leaving out their cruelest details.
• Mo Hua spent the morning with Meng Dahu, Meng Shuanghu, and Meng Xiaohu, watching the year-end street festivities and looking for ways to earn Spirit Stones.
• Mo Hua asked the Meng children how array practitioners made a living, and Shuanghu explained that array apprentices could draw simple arrays for trading firms.
• Mo Hua promised to treat the children to pastries if he earned Spirit Stones, then went home for lunch.
• Mo Hua went alone to North Street and entered a shabby trading firm with an Array Technique displayed outside.

Mo Hua tried to secure work drawing array techniques at Fate Pavilion by pretending to represent an older brother, then demonstrated his own skill to convince the manager. He lacked the ten Spirit Stones required for the deposit and left wondering how to raise the money, until a furious, richly dressed boy spotted him.

• Mo Hua entered Fate Pavilion and told Fat Manager that his supposed older brother could draw array techniques for the trading house.
• Fat Manager asked Mo Hua to demonstrate his brother's skill, so Mo Hua drew a basic fire-element Array Pattern from the Bright Fire Formation.
• Impressed by Mo Hua's practiced brushwork, Fat Manager agreed to hire the supposed brother if Mo Hua paid a ten-Spirit-Stone deposit.
• Mo Hua realized he had only three Spirit Stones and could not afford the deposit, while his family and companions could not lend him any.
• As Mo Hua sat outside Fate Pavilion worrying about the money, a richly dressed little fat boy surrounded by attendants spotted him and called out angrily.

Mo Hua borrowed ten Spirit Stones from Fatty An to take a paid Bright Fire Formation commission from an Array Pavilion. After studying the formation and its warning about the divine sense required, Mo Hua prepared to practice on the Void Broken Stele.

• Fatty An accused Mo Hua of giving him a flawed Array Technique assignment, but Mo Hua explained that the mistakes helped keep Qian Xing from escaping punishment.
• Fatty An accepted Mo Hua's explanation, apologized, and insisted on repaying his kindness; Mo Hua asked him to lend ten Spirit Stones instead.
• Fatty An gathered ten Spirit Stones from himself and his attendants and gave them to Mo Hua, who brought them to the Array Pavilion.
• The manager gave Mo Hua the Bright Fire Formation diagram and materials, setting a ten-day deadline and terms that could cost Mo Hua his deposit for failures.
• Mo Hua studied the formation at home, noticed its warning that cultivators below Qi Refining Level Three lacked sufficient divine sense, and planned to practice on the Void Broken Stele at midnight.

Mo Hua repeatedly drew the Bright Fire Formation on the Dao Stele, learning how the effort strained his divine consciousness and correcting mistakes until he completed the Array Technique. The Dao Stele restored his depleted divine consciousness when he erased the formation, leaving him to contemplate its power to transform consciousness and Array Techniques into each other.

• Mo Hua began drawing the Bright Fire Formation and suffered pain and exhaustion when his divine consciousness could not sustain the effort.
• He realized that drawing Array Techniques consumed far more divine consciousness than he had expected and resolved to practice gradually despite being below the formation’s recommended cultivation level.
• Mo Hua repeatedly drew and erased the formation, correcting errors after the Dao Stele revealed that his first complete attempt was inaccurate.
• After many attempts, Mo Hua completed the Bright Fire Formation, which glowed on the Dao Stele and filled him with pride.
• Mo Hua erased the formation, and his divine consciousness instantly returned to full strength as he reflected on the Dao Stele’s nature.

Mo Hua practiced copying and drawing the Bright Fire Formation, then succeeded in creating it with real materials after one failed attempt. He woke from a long rest to find a large bowl of meat waiting in the main hall.

• Mo Hua copied the Bright Fire Formation repeatedly until he produced an error-free diagram, while Mo Shan and Liu Ruhua worried about his health and discussed buying nourishing Fire-Chick meat.
• Mo Hua practiced the formation on the stone stele in his Sea of Consciousness through the night and realized his divine sense could match that of a Qi Refining Level Three cultivator.
• Mo Hua used Fat Manager's Array Paper and ink to draw the Bright Fire Formation, but his first attempt contained a mistake and depleted his divine sense.
• Mo Hua rested, then carefully drew the formation again and succeeded by dusk, before collapsing into sleep from exhaustion.
• Mo Hua woke after dark, followed the smell of food to the main hall, and found a huge bowl of meat on the table.

Mo Hua enjoyed Fire-Chick meat with his parents, then spent five days practicing the Bright Fire Formation until he completed eight formations. After setting out to shop with Da Hu and the others, he carried the formations in his Storage Bag and his mother’s spending money.

• Liu Ruhua served Mo Hua the Fire-Chick meat Mo Shan had bought, and Mo Hua shared it with his parents until they all ate.
• Mo Hua resumed practicing the Bright Fire Formation and completed eight formations from ten sets of materials over five days.
• Mo Hua practiced the formations on the Dao Stele at night and drew comic strips for amusement after finishing his work.
• Liu Ruhua gave Mo Hua a Spirit Stone and five-tenths of a broken Spirit Stone and reminded him to stay safe.
• Mo Hua left to go shopping with Da Hu and the other three, carrying the completed formations in his Storage Bag.

Mo Hua collected payment from Fate Pavilion for the Array Techniques he had drawn and celebrated by treating his companions to pastries. He brought some home for his parents and learned that cooking stoves also relied on Array Techniques, leaving him curious to study them.

• Mo Hua showed the manager his Array Techniques, and the manager accepted the order despite criticizing the rough early sheets and deducting payment for two failures.
• The manager paid Mo Hua six Spirit Stones and gave him materials for another batch of Array Techniques.
• Mo Hua treated Da Hu, Xiao Hu, and Shuang Hu to Five-Color Cake and asked them to keep his work for Fate Pavilion a secret.
• Mo Hua saved four pastries for his parents, who shared them with him at home.
• Liu Ruhua explained that stoves required an Artifact Refiner and expensive Array Techniques, prompting Mo Hua to wonder how they worked.

Mo Hua continued practicing the Bright Fire Formation and earned more Spirit Stones before his father received a visit from Ji Qingbai and his son. After Mo Hua repaired a lamp by redrawing its faded array, Ji Qingbai was stunned by the Second-Layer Qi Refining boy’s skill.

• Mo Hua used ten sets of materials to complete eight Bright Fire Formation arrays and earned six Spirit Stones from the Fat Manager at Fate Pavilion.
• Ji Qingbai and his son Ji Li arrived at Mo Shan’s home to discuss a matter they had previously discussed.
• Mo Hua returned to his room to draw arrays while Mo Shan and Ji Qingbai talked about monster hunting.
• When Mo Hua’s lamp went out, Mo Shan found that its array had faded and explained that he would buy a replacement.
• Mo Hua copied and repaired the lamp’s array, restoring its light, and Ji Qingbai stared after him in surprise and asked whether he was only at Second-Layer Qi Refining.

Ji Qingbai praised Mo Hua’s talent and urged Mo Shan to let him study Array Techniques, while explaining to Ji Li how difficult it was for Rogue Cultivators to become Array Masters. Mo Hua improved his Bright Fire Formation work and earned Spirit Stones; on the eve of Immortal Gate admissions, he prepared to enter the sect as his parents discussed his tuition.

• Ji Qingbai offered to help Mo Shan if Mo Hua faced difficulties studying Array Techniques, then warned Ji Li to avoid risking himself on their upcoming Great Black Mountain hunt.
• Ji Qingbai told Ji Li that Rogue Cultivators struggled to find Array Masters willing to teach them and hoped Mo Hua might become an Array Master.
• Mo Hua completed Bright Fire Formations with improving success, and Fat Manager gave him ten Spirit Stones, including a New Year’s gift.
• Mo Hua celebrated the New Year with his family, then resumed drawing formations and earned nearly fifty Spirit Stones by the day before Immortal Gate admissions.
• Mo Hua packed to enter the sect the next day while Mo Shan and Liu Ruhua discussed his tuition.

Mo Hua gave his parents the fifty Spirit Stones he had earned drawing formations to help pay his Immortal Gate tuition, then enrolled in the sect. Concerned that someone might be exploiting him, Mo Shan investigated Fate Pavilion and learned the manager believed Mo Hua was only running errands for his older brother.

• Mo Shan and Liu Ruhua worried about affording Mo Hua's Immortal Gate tuition, so Mo Hua showed them the fifty Spirit Stones he had earned drawing Bright Fire Formations.
• Mo Hua asked his parents to keep his earnings and use them if necessary, and they agreed to hold the Spirit Stones for him.
• Liu Ruhua paid Mo Hua's tuition and registered him at the Immortal Gate's Outer Sect before returning home.
• Mo Hua visited Fate Pavilion, collected materials for twenty Bright Fire Formations from Fat Manager, and agreed to deliver them within half a month.
• Mo Shan questioned Fat Manager about Mo Hua's work, and Fat Manager claimed that Mo Hua only ran errands for his older brother, whose formations Fate Pavilion bought.

Mo Hua began his first year at the Immortal Gate, cultivated from Qi Refining Level Two to Level Three, and learned that he would need to choose a cultivation method suited to his Spirit Root. Instructor Yan began explaining how Spirit Roots and cultivation methods determined a cultivator’s Lingli, leaving Mo Hua wondering which method he could learn.

• Mo Hua joined Class B on Spirit-Connecting Peak and began studying, cultivating, and drawing Array Techniques.
• Mo Hua learned that several familiar disciples had dropped out because their families could no longer afford tuition.
• After several months of steady cultivation, Mo Hua broke through to Qi Refining Level Three and found the Bright Fire Formation easier to draw.
• Instructor Yan kept Mo Hua and other Level Three disciples behind and explained that cultivation methods should match their Spirit Roots.
• Mo Hua considered his low-tier middle-grade Small Five Elements Spirit Root and wondered which cultivation method he would be able to learn.

Instructor Yan explained how cultivators had to choose techniques compatible with their Spirit Roots and warned of the dangers and costs of unsuitable or high-grade techniques. Mo Hua examined the catalog and realized that pursuing an expensive technique could leave ordinary cultivators dependent on powerful sects or lineages.

• Instructor Yan explained that techniques had to match a cultivator’s Spirit Root attributes and could not exceed its grade without risking severe harm.
• Instructor Yan warned the disciples to choose techniques they could afford and not rely on the hope that they were exceptions to established dangers.
• Mo Hua searched the catalog and saw that upper-upper-grade techniques required thousands of Spirit Stones and rare materials.
• Mo Hua reflected that ordinary cultivators who sought costly techniques often had to surrender their independence to a sect or lineage.

Mo Hua learned that sect cultivation manuals required costly inheritance fees, so he postponed choosing one and focused on earning Spirit Stones through array work. At Fate Pavilion, he decided to try learning the more difficult Earth Solidification Formation despite the risk of losing his deposit.

• Mo Hua discovered the inheritance fees for cultivation manuals and decided to keep using the Breathing Technique until he had saved enough Spirit Stones.
• Mo Hua continued his studies and array practice at Spirit-Connecting Peak, and he returned the ten Spirit Stones he had borrowed from Fatty An.
• During the sect’s rest period, Mo Hua brought a Bright Fire Formation to Steward Wang at Fate Pavilion and asked for a more difficult array technique with better pay.
• Steward Wang showed Mo Hua the Earth Solidification Formation, which paid two Spirit Stones per completed array and required unfamiliar inscriptions.
• Mo Hua decided to attempt learning the Earth Solidification Formation, accepting the risk that he might lose his twenty-Spirit-Stone deposit.

Mo Hua studied the Earth Solidification Formation but struggled to draw its unfamiliar Array Patterns, so he asked Instructor Yan for guidance. Instructor Yan explained the variant brushwork and the formation’s structure, leaving Mo Hua better equipped to continue practicing.

• Mo Hua gave Fat Manager ten Spirit Stones as collateral for the Earth Solidification Formation materials, then bought Five-Color Cakes for Da Hu and the others.
• Shuang Hu secretly brought Mo Hua a roasted spirit-beast chicken leg, which Mo Hua ate and disposed of before the elder discovered the theft.
• The elder caught Da Hu, Xiao Hu, and another disciple for stealing Brocade Chickens and punished them, though they bore their bruises with pride.
• After thirteen days of struggling with the Earth Solidification Formation, Mo Hua asked Instructor Yan about its unfamiliar Array Patterns.
• Instructor Yan demonstrated how to draw the altered patterns and explained how the four patterns were arranged and linked in the formation, while warning Mo Hua not to attempt techniques beyond his ability.

Mo Hua struggled to learn the Earth Solidification Formation, then improved through relentless practice and earned Spirit Stones by selling his work. After two months, he had earned a hundred Spirit Stones and planned to save enough to choose a cultivation technique.

• Mo Hua practiced drawing array patterns and eventually completed his first Earth Solidification Formation, though it took an hour and a half and was flawed.
• To make time for practice, Mo Hua skipped some Alchemy, Talisman Making, and Body Refining classes, since his weak constitution made body cultivation unsuitable for him.
• Five days later, Mo Hua delivered ten formations to Fat Manager, who paid him four Spirit Stones for the six successful ones.
• Mo Hua spent the Spirit Stones on pastries for himself and Da Hu and the others, and warned them not to steal livestock.
• Over the next two months, Mo Hua became faster and more accurate at drawing formations, earning a hundred Spirit Stones after expenses.
• Mo Hua decided to save two hundred Spirit Stones so he could choose a middle-grade, lower-tier cultivation technique without his parents paying for it.