Published at 26th of October 2024 9:30 am

Chapter 226: The Seventh Layer

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The lively New Year festivities passed, and Mo Hua turned thirteen.

He had grown taller, but only slightly, still looking much the same— a diminutive cultivator.

Besides his daily drawing of formation patterns, Mo Hua mainly focused on cultivation.

He was now at the peak of the Qi Refinement Realm’s sixth level, and it wouldn’t be long before he reached the bottleneck of his cultivation, facing the threshold to the middle phase of Qi Refinement.

Once he broke through the bottleneck, he could become a cultivator of the late Qi Refinement Stage.

The late Qi Refinement Stage was one step closer to the Foundation Establishment.

In the vast cultivation world, with countless cultivators, those in the Qi Refinement Realm were but ants, while reaching the Foundation Establishment Stage was the first step in changing one’s destiny in Tao cultivation.

The Foundation Establishment lays the foundation of Tao cultivation.

No matter the strength of one’s Taoist heart, without establishing the foundation, everything else is mere talk.

That day, Mo Hua woke up at 6 A.M. and proceeded with his cultivation as usual.

Suddenly, his Qi Sea trembled, and the flow of his spiritual power accelerated.

Mo Hua’s spirits lifted, and he took out some Spirit Stones, meditating calmly as he cultivated. These Spirit Stones were refined by Mo Hua, transforming into pure spiritual power, gathering in his Qi Sea until it overflowed.

This was similar to the bottleneck he faced during his first breakthrough.

The overflowing spiritual power traveled up along the meridians, concentrating at the Baihui point, and when it reached the Heavenly Gate Point, it permeated into the Sea of Consciousness like threads, wandering and weaving within, condensing into a Spirit Screen.

This Spirit Screen was the Mystery Formation, and it was the bottleneck that needed to be overcome when practicing the Heaven Yan Jue during cultivation.

There was anticipation as well as nervousness in Mo Hua’s heart, and he started contemplating the Mystery Formation with a focused mind.

Moments later, he let out a sigh of relief.

The Formation Patterns on the Mystery Formation were numerous and intertwined in a complex and chaotic way, inscrutable to anyone who wasn’t a Formation Master.

However, upon closer inspection, Mo Hua realized that most of the Formation Patterns, despite being obscure and constantly changing, did not stray from the category of the Five Elements Formation Patterns, and he could recognize them.

Being able to recognize them meant there was a way to solve them.

Recalling the basic principles of solving formations, using the generation and restraint of the Five Elements, and the rules of integrating and reversing spiritual power, Mo Hua began to decipher the patterns one by one.

Half a day passed, and Mo Hua had already solved more than a dozen Formation Patterns.

There was joy in Mo Hua’s heart.

The process of solving the formations was smoother than he had expected.

Thanks to Mr. Zhuang’s instruction, as well as Mo Hua’s day and night practice, including his understanding and application of First-grade Compound Formations, his level in formations, including his experience, was now among the very best within the ranks of Second Rank Formation Masters.

With his own accomplishments in formation methods, he could now solve the Mystery Formation himself.

Above the Mystery Formation, streams of spiritual power intertwined in complexity, dense with Formation Patterns that ceaselessly flowed.

Such a Mystery Formation, which would vex ordinary cultivators and terrify average Formation Masters, was now clear and solvable to Mo Hua; it was no longer a challenge.

All the effort he had put into formation methods before was worth it.

It was just that there were too many Mystery Formations—to solve them all would take some time.

And so, Mo Hua tirelessly worked without sleep or rest, immersed in solving the Mystery Formation.

Sometimes, he would become so absorbed while eating or walking that he would suddenly frown, then have an epiphany, fall into deep thought, or light up with understanding.

Seeing this, the cultivators around him knew that Mo Hua must be contemplating some challenging problem and quietly kept to themselves, not disturbing him.

Finally, a month later, Mo Hua had solved all the Mystery Formations.

The Spirit Screen gradually dissipated, the Mystery Formation instantly unraveled, and the thread-like spiritual power gradually diminished, at last merging into Mo Hua’s Sea of Consciousness.

Mo Hua’s Sea of Consciousness expanded slightly, and his Divine Sense deepened, whilst his spiritual power became even more profound.

He had finally broken through his bottleneck and become a cultivator of the seventh level of Qi Refinement.

The seventh level of Qi Refinement was the late stage of Qi Refinement!

Mo Hua was overjoyed. He had taken another crucial step forward in his cultivation. All that was left was to proceed steadily, step by step, advancing towards Foundation Establishment.

Even happier than Mo Hua himself about his advancement to the late Qi Refinement Stage were Liu Ruhua and Mo Shan.

They followed custom, hosting a feast for their neighbors as well as some deeply connected cultivators.

Mo Hua also received quite a few gifts, from Elder Yu, Master Chen, Old Mr. Feng, the Monster Hunter, Master Luo, and some other Formation Masters.

After entertaining the guests lively for a while, Mo Hua gathered his emotions and considered what to do next.

In terms of cultivation, he diligently persisted, abiding by the principle that constant dripping wears away the stone and that success will come naturally. There are no real shortcuts here, so there’s not much to discuss.

In the realm of Taoist skills, Mo Hua wanted to learn one or two more spells, to be prepared for emergencies.

Having reached the late phases of Qi Refinement, his strength had certainly increased, but so might the dangers he faces. It’s better to have many skills and not need them, so learning a few more spells was essential.

He just didn’t know whom to learn them from yet.

If he tried to learn them on his own, he didn’t have any suitable spell books.

It also wasn’t a great idea to go to Old Kui. Old Kui had already taught Mo Hua how to fish; Mo Hua couldn’t keep going back to him asking for fish.

When it was time to figure things out for himself, he had to do just that.

But this wasn’t urgent, so he could take his time.

What made Mo Hua somewhat hesitant, however, was about formations.

He had already reached the proficiency of a First-grade Formation Master and learned more challenging First-grade Compound Formations, but he was still far from the Foundation Establishment Stage, so naturally, he couldn’t become a Second Rank Formation Master.

So what formation methods should he study during this period?

Continue studying Compound Formations?

He was already familiar with ordinary Compound Formations, and more difficult Compound Formations only required higher strength in the Formation Pivot, which Mo Hua’s Divine Sense was insufficient for, so he couldn’t learn them for now.

But as for the principles of Compound Formations, especially Five Elements Formation Pivots, Mo Hua was already familiar with. Further study would only expand the breadth of his knowledge in formation methods, without gaining deeper understanding.

Studying them further, Mo Hua would find it somewhat boring.

Then should he study Large Formations?

Mo Hua’s understanding of Large Formations was very superficial, knowing only that they are essentially large Compound Formations, knowing little beyond that.

And even if he wanted to study Large Formations, at most Mo Hua could only practice them on the Taoist Stele in his Sea of Consciousness; he couldn’t actually draw them in reality.

Because Large Formations require a huge investment, including large formation media, a massive amount of Spirit Stones, and many people. This wasn’t something Mo Hua could manage.

Besides, Mo Hua was also puzzled about one thing, Divine Sense.

Mo Hua’s Divine Sense was already very strong, stronger than that of an average cultivator at the ninth level of Qi Refinement. Even average First Grade Formation Masters couldn’t compare with him.

But compared to the Divine Sense of someone in the Foundation Establishment Stage, Mo Hua’s was still lacking a lot.

Mo Hua’s Divine Sense continued to grow, strengthened with the help of the Taoist Stele, refined through practicing formation methods. As his realm breaks through in the future, his Divine Sense would still grow.

So, could there be a day when he, yet to establish his foundation, would match the Divine Sense of a cultivator in the Foundation Establishment Stage?

Where is the boundary between Divine Sense at the Qi Refinement Realm and the Foundation Establishment Stage?

This was beyond Mo Hua’s current understanding, so he went to visit Mr. Zhuang.

When Mr. Zhuang saw Mo Hua, his expression was calm, but inwardly he sighed:

“This child’s Divine Sense has grown stronger again…”

He didn’t know the best way to teach him anymore.

Mo Hua paid his respects to Mr. Zhuang respectfully and then asked, “Gentleman, should I continue to study Compound Formations next?”

“Continue as you have always done,” answered Mr. Zhuang.

“Oh.”

Mo Hua felt that studying Compound Formations had become somewhat boring, but he did not dare to say it aloud.

Mr. Zhuang asked, “What kind of Mystery Formation did you encounter in your Sea of Consciousness this time?”

Mo Hua thought for a moment and replied, “It’s still the Five Elements Formation Patterns, but the grade of the Mystery Formation is higher, mostly First-grade Formation Methods, and it also includes some Compound Formations.”

Mr. Zhuang fell silent for a moment, then sighed, “In that case, it will be very difficult for you to establish your foundation.”

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