Recaps

Mo Hua steadily improved his array skills and saved Spirit Stones while receiving help from Instructor Yan and Manager Mo. Before he could reach his savings goal, he learned that his mother was seriously ill and rushed to Apricot Forest Hall, where Elder Feng reassured him that she was not in danger of dying.

• Mo Hua completed five Metal-Stone Formations for Manager Mo, earning roughly twelve Spirit Stones, and grew suspicious that Manager Mo and Instructor Yan were close friends.
• Mo Hua continued studying and practicing arrays, learning several formations and saving more than one hundred and eighty Spirit Stones toward a cultivation method.
• Instructor Yan told Mo Hua that his mother was seriously ill, so Mo Hua took leave and hurried home.
• Auntie Yang told Mo Hua that his mother was being treated by Elder Feng at Apricot Forest Hall, and Mo Hua rushed there.
• Elder Feng reassured Mo Hua that his mother's condition would not endanger her life, then helped him recover his breath after his panicked run.

Elder Feng explained that Liu Ruhua’s heart and lungs had been damaged by long hours using Lingli to fuel the Dining Hall’s kitchen fires, and Mo Hua visited her as she recovered. Liu Ruhua revealed she had been working extra hours to save for Mo Hua’s cultivation technique, while Mo Hua offered the Spirit Stones he had earned and urged her to focus on getting well.

• Elder Feng told Mo Hua that Liu Ruhua needed to stop working in the Dining Hall kitchen and avoid using Lingli while her heart and lungs healed.
• Elder Feng explained that Liu Ruhua’s shifts had increased from four hours to six, and that her Fire-Averting Hairpin had limited the damage; the Dining Hall steward agreed to pay for her pills.
• Mo Hua sat beside Liu Ruhua as she slept, noticed how much she had aged, and grew tearful.
• Liu Ruhua told Mo Hua she had taken extra shifts to save for a better cultivation technique for him.
• Mo Hua revealed that he had earned one hundred and eighty Spirit Stones drawing Array Techniques, and Liu Ruhua explained that his father had already investigated his work at the Fate Pavilion.
• Mo Hua offered to support Liu Ruhua with his earnings and told her to rest and recover.

After Liu Ruhua’s illness left her unable to use Lingli or earn Spirit Stones, Mo Hua learned that she loved cooking and promised to help her open a Dining Hall. A tough cut of Wild Mountain Ox gave him an idea about using Array Techniques to cook, and he went to Fortune and Prosperity Restaurant to seek out An Xiaofu.

• Liu Ruhua recovered enough to return home but remained unable to use Lingli, and Mo Hua learned from Mo Shan that her inability to work had left her despondent.
• Mo Shan told Mo Hua that Liu Ruhua enjoyed cooking, and Mo Hua promised to help her open a large Dining Hall someday.
• During summer break, Mo Shan brought home tough Wild Mountain Ox meat, and Liu Ruhua explained that long cooking could tenderize it but required constant Lingli or an array-powered stove.
• Mo Hua realized an Array Technique might help cook the meat and spent the night thinking about the idea.
• The next day, Mo Hua went to Fortune and Prosperity Restaurant and asked the shopkeeper to announce him to An Xiaofu.

Mo Hua visited Fatty An’s family Dining Hall to learn how its stove used Array Techniques to cook food. After studying the stove and its Molten Fire Array, he left, while the shopkeeper wondered whether Mo Hua intended to draw the Array Technique himself.

• Mo Hua asked Fatty An to help him see the Dining Hall’s stove, and Fatty An agreed to take him into the kitchen.
• The shopkeeper explained that the stove used Spirit Stones and a five-pattern Molten Fire Array to provide controlled heat for the cooking ranges.
• Mo Hua examined the stove and asked the shopkeeper about the Array Technique’s placement and design.
• Fatty An offered Mo Hua a meal, but Mo Hua declined and promised to do Fatty An’s next Array Technique homework for free.
• Fatty An made the shopkeeper promise not to tell his father that Mo Hua did his homework.
• The shopkeeper suspected Mo Hua might want to draw the stove’s Array Technique, then dismissed the idea because Mo Hua seemed too young to have sufficient divine sense.

Mo Hua planned to make a stove with a Molten Fire Array and sought the diagram and design details he needed. After studying a stove blueprint at Fate Pavilion, he went to Chen's Smithy to ask Master Chen about refining one.

• Mo Hua realized he needed a specialized Artifact Refiner to make a stove and worried about drawing the five-pattern Molten Fire Array onto iron.
• Mo Hua asked Manager Mo for a Molten Fire Array Diagram and examined a commissioned stove design, learning that its array had to be adjusted to fit the stove.
• Manager Mo lent Mo Hua the Molten Fire Array Diagram and warned him not to overdraw his divine sense.
• Mo Hua returned home and wrote down the key details of the stove design from memory.
• Mo Hua went to Chen's Smithy, where he found Master Chen leading his disciples in hammering iron.

Mo Hua sought a small stove for his mother and learned from Master Chen that its materials and labor would be costly. He began studying the Molten Array needed for it, but his Divine Consciousness could only sustain four of its five Array Patterns, leaving him to rely on continued practice to grow stronger.

• Master Chen demonstrated forging iron and gave Mo Hua a price list for stoves after Mo Hua asked about making a small one for his mother.
• Mo Hua calculated that a suitably sized stove would cost about one hundred and fifty Spirit Stones in materials, plus a substantial labor fee.
• Mo Hua studied and memorized the Molten Array Diagram, then practiced drawing it on the Broken Stele in his Sea of Consciousness.
• Mo Hua managed to draw four Array Patterns before his Divine Consciousness faltered and pain forced him to stop.
• Mo Hua considered ways to strengthen his Divine Consciousness and concluded that he could only keep drawing Array Techniques.

Mo Hua practiced the Molten Fire Array so he could design a stove that would let his mother cook without using lingli. After Mo Hua proposed opening a small eatery, Mo Shan agreed to fund the stove, and the family began planning the business despite Liu Ruhua’s worries about the cost.

• Mo Hua spent half a month practicing the Molten Fire Array on the Dao Stele and with ink, steadily increasing how much he could draw before exhausting his Divine Consciousness.
• Mo Hua suggested that Liu Ruhua open a small eatery because her cooking was delicious, but Mo Shan explained that she could not use lingli to fuel a cooking fire.
• Mo Hua showed his parents a stove blueprint designed to provide continuous fire using Spirit Stones, and said he would draw the required Array Technique.
• Liu Ruhua worried that renting premises, hiring help, and building the stove would drain the family’s savings, but Mo Shan agreed to handle the premises and manpower.
• Mo Shan gave Mo Hua more than a hundred Spirit Stones earned from hunting demon beasts to pay for the stove, while comforting Liu Ruhua about their son’s future.

Mo Hua commissioned a small stove from Master Chen and used visits to the smithy to study Artifact Refining and prepare to draw a Molten Fire Array on the stove. When the smithy’s Artifact Refining Furnace broke down, Mo Hua asked to inspect its Array Technique, and the chapter ended with him recognizing a complete Molten Fire Array inside.

• Mo Hua paid Master Chen a deposit of one hundred and fifty Spirit Stones and signed a Spirit Contract for a small stove.
• Mo Hua visited Chen's Smithy while Master Chen refined the stove, asking questions and studying its construction to prepare for drawing an Array Technique on it.
• Master Chen discovered that the Artifact Refining Furnace would not light and suspected its internal Array Technique had failed.
• Mo Hua asked Master Chen to let him inspect the furnace’s Array Technique, and Master Chen agreed to have the apprentices dismantle it.
• Mo Hua saw the complete Molten Fire Array carved inside the furnace.

Mo Hua repaired the Molten Array on Master Chen’s Artifact Refining Furnace, restoring its ability to work despite the firepower being weaker because of cheap ink. Master Chen agreed to refine Mo Hua’s stove without a fee, and Mo Hua offered Spirit Stones to compensate him and his apprentices for their labor.

• Mo Hua identified worn Array Patterns as the cause of the Artifact Refining Furnace’s failure and persuaded Master Chen to let him attempt the repair.
• Mo Hua reconnected the damaged Array Patterns using Fire-Attribute Ink, and the furnace began working after the apprentices added more Spirit Stones and heated an iron rod inside it.
• Master Chen tested the furnace by refining a blade and found its firepower weaker than before; Mo Hua realized the cheap ink was likely responsible.
• Master Chen offered to refine Mo Hua’s stove without charging a refining fee, but Mo Hua arranged to give him and his apprentices Spirit Stones as compensation for their work.
• Mo Hua left for home, and Master Chen told him to come back for future artifact refining and promised him a discount.

Mo Hua successfully drew a five-pattern Molten Fire Array and later inscribed one onto the stove forged by Master Chen. The completed stove was ready for use.

• Mo Hua drew a complete five-pattern Molten Fire Array, confirming his divine sense could support the technique.
• Liu Ruhua found Mo Hua asleep after his practice and covered him with a blanket.
• Da Zhu told Mo Hua that Master Chen had finished forging the stove, and Mo Hua paid Master Chen sixty Spirit Stones.
• Mo Hua prepared the stove and drew the Molten Fire Array onto it while Master Chen and his disciples watched.
• Mo Hua told Master Chen that he had successfully completed the Array Technique.

Mo Hua’s family prepared to open an eatery after he helped forge an affordable stove with an Array Technique. They planned to sell slowly stewed wild beef, and Mo Hua was left reflecting on how few Array Masters cared about poor Rogue Cultivators.

• Master Chen and his apprentices tested the stove Mo Hua had designed, then delivered it to his home.
• Mo Shan rented neighboring courtyards and joined them to make room for the family’s eatery.
• Mo Hua explained the stove to Liu Ruhua, who cooked dinner while his parents praised his Array Technique skills.
• Mo Hua proposed selling wild beef stewed for two days, and Liu Ruhua and Mo Shan agreed to test the idea and find more meat.
• Liu Ruhua explained that ordinary Rogue Cultivators rarely had stoves because hiring an Array Master was too expensive, leaving Mo Hua troubled.

Liu Ruhua perfected her slow-stewed wild beef and prepared other foods and drinks for the family’s new eatery. With help from neighbors and friends, the eatery opened as Liu Eatery.

• Mo Shan brought home wild beef, and Liu Ruhua marinated and stewed it until Mo Hua and Mo Shan praised its flavor.
• Mo Hua delivered portions of the beef to Elder Feng, Master Chen, and the Meng family, whose members enjoyed it and offered to help with the eatery.
• Liu Ruhua refined her beef recipe and prepared beef noodles, rice wines, pastries, fruits, and other items to sell.
• Neighbors and friends helped the family finish preparing the eatery, which opened on the first day of the month under the name Liu Eatery.

Liu Eatery’s business prospered, helping Mo Hua’s family earn more than two hundred Spirit Stones and giving Jiang Yun’s struggling family a steady source of income. After summer break, Mo Hua returned to Immortal Gate confident in his Array Technique skills, only to discover that the surprise examination required a complete technique containing six Array Patterns.

• Customers flocked to Liu Eatery for its affordable beef, and Da Hu and two others helped as business grew.
• Mo Shan hired Jiang Yun, whose husband had been badly injured, to work at the eatery for thirty Spirit Stones a month; Liu Ruhua gave her food to take home to her hungry child.
• Liu Eatery earned more than two hundred Spirit Stones before classes resumed, and Liu Ruhua gave the money to Mo Hua for his cultivation.
• Mo Hua said goodbye to Liu Ruhua and returned to Immortal Gate as the disciples gathered at Spirit-Connecting Peak.
• Instructor Yan announced a surprise Array Technique examination, and Mo Hua discovered it tested a complete technique with six Array Patterns.

Mo Hua struggled to complete the six-pattern Water-Fixing Array exam, while Instructor Yan confronted Elder Qian over the exam’s difficulty and Qian Family’s attempts to recruit him. When Instructor Yan graded Mo Hua’s paper, he discovered the boy had drawn five and a half patterns, far beyond what he had thought possible.

• Mo Hua questioned why the Qi Refining Level Three exam required the full six-pattern Water-Fixing Array, then focused on drawing it and finished just over five patterns before time ran out.
• At Mingde Building, Instructor Yan challenged Elder Qian for changing the exam from the first two patterns to the entire array technique.
• Elder Qian urged Instructor Yan to leave the Outer Sect for the Qian Family or seek an Inner Sect post, but Instructor Yan refused to teach for fame or profit.
• Instructor Zhou warned Instructor Yan that opposing the powerful Qian Family could cost him his position, while Instructor Yan insisted he would continue teaching Outer Sect disciples.
• While grading the papers, Instructor Yan found Mo Hua’s neat work showing five and a half Water-Fixing Array patterns and wondered how the boy’s divine sense had improved so quickly.

Instructor Yan decided to leave the Immortal Gate and sought a new array technique teacher for Mo Hua before departing Immortal City. Master Luo refused to take Mo Hua as an apprentice because he was a Rogue Cultivator, leaving Instructor Yan to find another way to support the boy.

• Instructor Yan gave Mo Hua an A on his array technique test, then raised the other disciples’ Bs to As before deciding he could no longer remain at the Immortal Gate.
• Mo Hua learned that Instructor Yan was leaving and that the Immortal Gate Outer Sect would stop teaching array techniques, so he went to ask Instructor Yan about it.
• Instructor Yan told Manager Mo he would leave both the Immortal Gate and Immortal City, and promised to make arrangements for Mo Hua’s future studies.
• Instructor Yan showed Master Luo the Bright Fire Formation Mo Hua had drawn at Qi Refining Level Three and asked him to teach the boy.
• Master Luo refused because Mo Hua was a Rogue Cultivator and could not meet the expectations and costs involved in becoming his apprentice.
• Master Luo told a disciple that talent without Spirit Stones, inheritance, and family backing would eventually wither, while Instructor Yan left disappointed.

Instructor Yan sought a teacher for Mo Hua before leaving and brought him to meet a reclusive, highly accomplished Array Master. Mo Hua climbed the mountain alone to seek the master’s guidance, while Instructor Yan waited below.

• Master Luo refused Instructor Yan’s request, and other Array Masters either rejected Mo Hua or demanded too much in return for teaching him.
• Instructor Yan visited a secluded mountain dwelling and prepared Mo Hua’s exam papers before deciding to seek help from its reclusive resident.
• Mo Hua withdrew from Immortal Gate as its new fees made study unaffordable for poor Rogue Cultivators, and Da Hu and the others withdrew as well.
• Instructor Yan visited Mo Hua and brought him to the mountain, explaining that its resident was an Array Master whose attainments were at least First-Grade.
• Instructor Yan urged Mo Hua to answer truthfully and respectfully, then sent him up the mountain alone to ask the reclusive master to accept him as a disciple.

Mo Hua passed Mr. Zhuang’s test and was accepted as his registered disciple, with lessons set to begin the next morning. Instructor Yan revealed that he had foreseen Mo Hua becoming a remarkable Array Master, urged him to pass on his knowledge, and prepared to leave Immortal City.

• Mo Hua reached Mr. Zhuang’s courtyard after noticing a strange ripple in his divine sense but seeing nothing unusual on the mountain path.
• Mr. Zhuang explained that the path held a Water-Mirror Array that could reveal encounters or glimpse the future, then asked Mo Hua to draw the Water-Fixing Array.
• Mo Hua drew five and a half Array Patterns before exhausting his divine sense, and Mr. Zhuang accepted him as a registered disciple and told him to return the next morning for lessons.
• Instructor Yan told Mo Hua that the path had shown him Mo Hua would become a remarkable Array Master and advised him to share his knowledge with talented cultivators.
• Instructor Yan said he would soon leave Immortal City, and Mo Hua and his instructor exchanged farewells as they went their separate ways.

Mo Hua visited Mr. Zhuang at Zuowang Abode to seek instruction in Array Techniques and learned that his theoretical foundation was weak. Mr. Zhuang gave him Origin of Array Formations to study, and Mo Hua ended the day newly aware of how vast the path ahead was.

• Mo Shan and Liu Ruhua celebrated that Instructor Yan had recommended Mo Hua to an Array Master, and Mo Hua set out for Southeast Mountain after breakfast.
• Mo Hua met Old Kui at Zuowang Abode and spent the morning playing Five Elements Chess with him while Mr. Zhuang dozed by the pond.
• Mo Hua shared lunch with Mr. Zhuang and Old Kui, then answered Mr. Zhuang's questions about his Array Techniques knowledge.
• Mr. Zhuang judged Mo Hua's theoretical foundation too weak and gave him Origin of Array Formations to study before learning how to draw arrays.
• Mo Hua read the tome beneath a tree and learned about array history, grades, schools, and formations, leaving him aware of how far he was from mastering the Dao of arrays.

Mo Hua studied Origin of Array Formations under Mr. Zhuang, while his family’s food gifts brought warmth to Mr. Zhuang and Old Kui’s days. After warning Mo Hua that his potential as an Array Master was limited, Mr. Zhuang agreed to teach him by a different method.

• Mo Hua read Origin of Array Formations at Mr. Zhuang’s Zuowang Abode and asked him questions, while Mo Shan and Liu Ruhua sent food gifts that Mr. Zhuang and Old Kui came to enjoy.
• Mr. Zhuang told Old Kui that his shattered Qi Sea could not be healed and that he preferred simple food because of the feelings behind it; Old Kui said he ate crisp pastries to hear them crunch.
• After Mo Hua nearly finished the book, Mr. Zhuang began teaching him array theory and explained that Mo Hua’s cultivation and lack of early foundations might limit him to becoming a Third-Grade Array Master.
• Mo Hua accepted that he should focus on learning rather than worrying about how far he could advance, and Mr. Zhuang promised to teach him differently the next day.

Mr. Zhuang changed his lessons to practical Array Techniques, and Mo Hua progressed rapidly as his Divine Consciousness grew. Suspecting the unusual growth could attract attention, Mr. Zhuang taught him the Meditation Technique and told him to credit it for his progress.

• Mr. Zhuang shifted Mo Hua's studies toward Qi Refining Array Theory and hands-on practice, and Mo Hua quickly mastered several five- and six-pattern Array Techniques.
• Mr. Zhuang privately regretted that Mo Hua lacked the inheritance of great clans, while Old Kui challenged his praise of favored sons of heaven.
• After a month, Mr. Zhuang discovered Mo Hua's Divine Consciousness had grown enough for him to draw six and a half patterns of a seven-pattern Array Technique.
• Mr. Zhuang asked Mo Hua about Visualization Methods and unusual images, then heard that Mo Hua practiced drawing arrays day and night.
• Mr. Zhuang taught Mo Hua the Meditation Technique and instructed him to say it was the reason his Divine Consciousness grew so quickly.

Mr. Zhuang taught Mo Hua the Meditation Method, explaining that it restored Divine Consciousness by clearing the mind and accepting one's thoughts. Mo Hua successfully entered a shallow meditative state, then learned that the Visualization Method could strengthen Divine Consciousness but carried dangerous risks.

• Mr. Zhuang explained that the Meditation Method depended on letting the heart follow nature and not deceiving oneself.
• Mr. Zhuang recounted how his own Meditation Method had improved in youth but later regressed amid life's hardships.
• Mo Hua practiced the method, entered shallow meditation, and quickly recovered some of his spent Divine Consciousness.
• Mo Hua asked about the Visualization Method, and Mr. Zhuang explained how visualization could strengthen Divine Consciousness.
• Mr. Zhuang warned Mo Hua that visualization immersed the mind in another being's Dao and could bring terrifying consequences, then had him practice meditation before sending him home.

Mo Hua advanced his meditation and array studies while his family and friends settled into steadier lives in Immortal City. After more than a month of quiet progress, he arrived at Mr. Zhuang’s place and found several unfamiliar cultivators waiting outside.

• Mo Hua improved his meditation, then told Manager Mo he could no longer draw array techniques for Fate Pavilion while studying under Mr. Zhuang.
• Mo Hua learned that Manager Mo would not explain Instructor Yan’s disappearance until Mo Hua was older.
• Da Hu and the other two trained martial Dao Methods with Mo Shan as they prepared to enter Great Black Mountain as Monster Hunters.
• Liu Ruhua’s eatery prospered, and Jiang Yun began selling pastries and roasted pine nuts there while supporting her household.
• Mo Hua brought pastries and pine nuts to Old Kui, who enjoyed the pine nuts while playing Five Elements Chess.
• After more than a month of steady study, Mo Hua went to Mr. Zhuang’s place and found unfamiliar cultivators outside the door.

Mo Hua continued studying Array Techniques at Mr. Zhuang’s abode while three visitors waited outside its gate for seven days. After learning they were descendants of an old acquaintance whom Mr. Zhuang did not wish to meet, Mo Hua offered to persuade them to leave.

• Mo Hua passed two well-dressed children and a veiled woman waiting outside the gate, then entered the courtyard while they remained unable to open it.
• Mo Hua studied Array Techniques, brought roasted Pine Nuts to Old Kui, and played Five Elements Chess with him when his divine sense was exhausted.
• Mo Hua found the three visitors still waiting outside the gate each day, while the children grew increasingly haggard.
• Mo Hua asked Mr. Zhuang about the visitors, and Mr. Zhuang explained that they were descendants of an old acquaintance and that he did not wish to meet them.
• Mo Hua offered to tell the visitors to return home, and Mr. Zhuang agreed that he could try.

Mo Hua brought food to the veiled woman and two children waiting to see Mr. Zhuang, persuaded them to stop waiting and return another day, and shared a meal with them. After declining a jade pendant and accepting five Spirit Stones for the food, he left the mountain, giving the girl his name.

• Mo Hua told the veiled woman, the boy, and the girl that Mr. Zhuang would not see them and advised them to return another day rather than wait and harm their cultivation.
• Mo Hua opened his food box, and the hungry children and Aunt Xue accepted his offer to eat before leaving.
• The boy asked about the beef, and Mo Hua explained that Wild Ox Monster meat was safe to eat.
• Aunt Xue offered Mo Hua a Clear Heart Jade, but he declined it and accepted only five Spirit Stones as payment for the meal.
• As Mo Hua left, the girl asked his name, and he told her it was Mo Hua.

Mo Hua met the Bai siblings, who kept visiting Mr. Zhuang to ask to study array techniques, while he continued his own training. After Mo Hua learned the Three Talents Array unusually quickly, Mr. Zhuang wondered whether he had encountered some hidden opportunity, and Old Kui urged him to simply ask.

• Mo Hua learned that Bai Zisheng and Bai Zixi were siblings from the Bai Family who had come with Aunt Xue to seek Mr. Zhuang as their master.
• Mo Hua continued practicing arrays as Mr. Zhuang resumed his usual routine and did not meet the Bai siblings.
• Mr. Zhuang gave Mo Hua one day to study the Three Talents Array, and Mo Hua practiced it repeatedly before drawing it with several errors caused by insufficient divine sense.
• Mr. Zhuang used Soul-Calming Incense to help Mo Hua recover, then examined his array and realized he had learned it with remarkable speed.
• Old Kui suggested that Mo Hua might have had a fortuitous encounter and told Mr. Zhuang to ask him directly.