Immortality Through Array Formations

The Qi-refining Realm is divided into three phases and nine levels, with the early phase consisting of levels one to three, and anything above level three is considered the middle phase of Qi Refinement.

Mo Hua’s cultivation had already reached the peak of the third layer of Qi Refinement, just a step away from breaking through to the middle phase.

After practicing Tianyan Jue for no more than half a month, Mo Hua felt that his Qi Sea was brimming, unable to refine any more spiritual power.

This also meant that Mo Hua was about to make a breakthrough.

Normally, to break through using other cultivation techniques, one would need to prepare special Heaven and Earth spiritual items to stimulate the meridians and Qi Sea during the breakthrough in hopes of overcoming the bottleneck and advancing to a higher realm.

Tianyan Jue doesn’t require any special spiritual objects to assist in cultivation, so one should be able to continue cultivating.

Mo Hua still spent most of his time Drawing Formations, only setting aside two hours each day for meditation and cultivation.

A few nights later, as per usual, Mo Hua was engraving Formation Patterns onto the Taoist Stele within his Sea of Consciousness when suddenly, as if blessed by serendipity, his Qi Sea churned tumultuously.

Mo Hua quickly exited his Sea of Consciousness and sat cross-legged on the bed before taking out two Spirit Stones and quietly absorbing spiritual energy.

It only took a moment for Mo Hua to feel the acupoints throughout his body open up, and his absorption of spiritual energy increased several times over the usual rate, depleting the spiritual energy from the two Spirit Stones in no time.

Mo Hua felt both pained and elated.

He was pained by the consumption of the Spirit Stones yet elated that he was about to break through to become a cultivator in the middle phase of Qi Refinement.

Mo Hua took out a few more Spirit Stones and continued to absorb.

In Mo Hua’s Storage Bag were dozens of Spirit Stones that he had saved, along with nearly a hundred more given by his parents, who, knowing he was close to a breakthrough but unsure of when it would happen, had advised him to carry them as a precaution.

These hundred Spirit Stones probably represented the income of their eatery for half a month.

Mo Hua calmed his mind and maintained a steady, unarrogant attitude, slowly breathing in and out.

The Spirit Stones in his hands shimmered with a crystal-clear blue light, which gradually dimmed until, finally, their spiritual power was completely exhausted, leaving them gray and white.

One after another, after consuming nearly fifty Spirit Stones, Mo Hua’s Qi Sea finally stopped churning, the spiritual power from the Qi Sea nourished his meridians throughout his body, gradually becoming dense and stable.

Just when Mo Hua believed he was about to succeed in his breakthrough, thin wisps of spiritual power began to scatter, escaping from the meridians and traveling along some tiny collaterals, gradually converging toward the Bahui Meridian at the top of his head.

Mo Hua’s heart tightened.

What was this?

He had never heard of properly refined spiritual energy uncontrollably leaking out, and especially not converging toward the top acupoint on the head!

The spiritual energy didn’t actually collect at the Bahui Meridian, but when it reached the Heavenly Gate Point, it started to weave and stabilize like threads, slowly seeping inward to the exact location of Mo Hua’s Sea of Consciousness!

Suppressing the palpitations in his heart, Mo Hua let his Divine Sense sink into his Sea of Consciousness, only to discover fine, pale blue strands of spiritual energy there.

These strands were intermittent and chaotic, like the continuous drizzle of spring rain or tangled strands of hair, forming a complicated pale blue Spirit Screen.

Mo Hua was completely stunned.

With his brief experience in Tao Cultivation, he had no idea what was happening.

Mo Hua tried to mobilize his spiritual power and found that it could circulate normally.

Grasping the Spirit Stones, he attempted to absorb Spiritual Energy for cultivation, but the energy passed through the Heavenly Gate Point into the Sea of Consciousness and was automatically blocked, unable to form a Circulation and thus unable to be refined into spiritual power, accumulate in the Qi Sea, or enhance his Cultivation.

This meant that Mo Hua wouldn’t be able to practice cultivation anymore, nor could he advance to a higher realm.

Mo Hua took in a cold breath and murmured, “What should I do now…”

Mo Hua lay back on the bed, his mind in turmoil. After a while, he sat up, forcing himself to calm down:

“There is a Taoist Stele in the Sea of Consciousness, but I didn’t touch it during cultivation, so it can’t be the stele’s fault.”

“If it’s not the stele’s fault, then it must be the cultivation technique’s issue.”

“There was no problem with cultivating the technique; the issue arose during the breakthrough.”

“When I broke through, the overflowing spiritual power reached my meridians and finally connected to my Sea of Consciousness, forming a Spirit Screen.”

“The Spirit Screen blocked the circulation of spiritual power, so I couldn’t continue my cultivation. As long as I solve the problem of the Spirit Screen and prevent it from forming an obstacle, the spiritual power should flow again, and it won’t hinder my practice.”

“So the real problem is solving the Spirit Screen in the Sea of Consciousness…”

Mo Hua grasped the key issue, then set aside all other factors, only considering the Spirit Screen within the Sea of Consciousness. He let his Divine Sense sink into the Sea of Consciousness and carefully examined the intricate Spirit Screen.

The Spirit Screen was made of pale blue strands of spiritual energy that seemed alive, moving freely and chaotically, slowly drifting. They crossed over each other intermittently, separating and intertwining, creating a disorderly and abstruse sight.

After watching for the duration of a cup of tea, Mo Hua collapsed back onto the bed.

He inwardly complained, “What the hell is this Spirit Screen? I can’t make heads or tails of it…”

Mo Hua once again deeply felt his lack of knowledge in Tao cultivation.

There’s a saying that knowledge is the ladder for cultivators to progress. Mo Hua didn’t know where he had heard it, but he found it made sense at the moment.

Mo Hua started to recall in his mind all the knowledge related to Tao cultivation he had encountered, to see if there was anything similar. But the jumble of thoughts made his head increasingly chaotic and painful. In the end, he still had no clue.

In a flash of insight, he suddenly remembered a line from the Tianyan Jue cultivation technique:

“Unfit for practice without being a Formation Master.”

Mo Hua bolted upright.

If the technique was unfit for those who are not Formation Masters, then it must be related to Formation Masters. If it’s related to Formation Masters, could this Spirit Screen be… a Formation?

He recalled another previous line, “The bottleneck lies in the Divine Sense.”

“The bottleneck lies in the Divine Sense, unfit for practice without being a Formation Master.”

The bottleneck in the Divine Sense is because the Spirit Screen is the bottleneck, and the Spirit Screen exists within the Sea of Consciousness. Unfit for practice without being a Formation Master, that’s because the Spirit Screen itself is a formation, which only a Master Formation could understand!

Mo Hua let his Divine Sense plunge into the Sea of Consciousness once again and observed the Spirit Screen more carefully, discovering that although the spiritual energy strands in the Spirit Screen looked disorderly, the way they interconnected actually formed Formation Patterns.

But with the constant movement of the spiritual energy strands, the patterns kept changing, and what ultimately formed was a continuously evolving and shifting Formation.

Mo Hua had an epiphany.

Then he scratched his head again.

This Formation… he had never seen it before!

The formations he had learned included at most six Formation Patterns, but the Spirit Screen before him seemed to be made of dozens to hundreds.

Even more terrifying, these patterns were constantly changing, ultimately forming Formations that Mo Hua couldn’t understand, which in turn continuously transformed into even more incomprehensible Formations…

Just looking at it was enough to make Mo Hua’s scalp tingle.

“Is this the Ancient Formation used by ancient cultivators in their practice?”

“Is this the so-called ‘bizarre and obscure’ ancient technique?”

Mo Hua couldn’t help feeling awe in his heart—the wisdom of ancient cultivators was truly extraordinary. A mere practice technique of the Qi-refinement Realm was daunting just to behold.

He also mourned silently for himself, knowing that the technique was ‘bizarre and obscure’, but never anticipated it to be to such an extent.

Mo Hua silently examined the Spirit Screen for a long while, his head spinning without any breakthrough. In the end, he came to a clear conclusion:

Alone, he had no way of dealing with this Formation Barrier whatsoever.

Realizing his powerlessness was also a kind of self-awareness.

Mo Hua sighed, “I’ll go ask Mr. Zhuang tomorrow.”

Mo Hua, feeling relieved, pulled the blanket over himself and immediately fell asleep with heavy snores.