Chapter 198: Formation Principle_1
Formation Pens generally range from small to large, including fine tip, small tip, medium tip, and large tip.
The larger the Formation Pen, the larger the Formation Patterns drawn, and the larger the scale of the Formation, but the efficacy of the Formation will not undergo a qualitative change.
Large Artifact Refining Furnaces require Drawing Formation with a large tip, which demands more Spiritual Ink and consumes more Divine Sense.
This was Mo Hua’s first time Drawing such a large Formation; at first, the strokes felt unfamiliar, but as he calmed his mind and followed the planned Formation Diagram, he drew it stroke by stroke.
Gradually, Mo Hua’s pen movements became more fluid.
Although the Formation media was different, the essence of the Formation remained the same.
Mo Hua had already drawn this Compound Formation many times on Formation Paper and Taoist Steles.
Elder Yu watched from the side, holding his breath in concentration, not disturbing Mo Hua.
Master Chen, likewise, dared not even breathe heavily; he had doubted whether Mo Hua could really draw a First-grade Formation Method, but now, seeing Mo Hua Drawing the Formation on such a huge Refining Furnace, he felt shocked and moved beyond measure.
Such a large Artifact Furnace with such a grand Formation drawn on it, how immense would the furnace fire need to be…
Just thinking about it filled Master Chen with excitement.
But things did not go smoothly for Mo Hua on the Formation front.
He could already draw the Melting Fire and Controlling Spirit Compound Formation on the Sea of Consciousness’s Taoist Stele, thinking his Divine Sense was sufficient, but now, as he drew the Formation on the Refining Furnace, the Divine Sense required had increased slightly.
It was that slight increase, like the straw that broke the camel’s back, that caused Mo Hua’s initial attempts to fail.
Mo Hua could only ask for help, using Spiritual Dissipation Liquid to wash away the failed Formation Pivot, and then start over again.
He himself sat down to meditate on the side, restoring his Divine Sense to full.
Mo Hua continued drawing, and then failed again.
Thus went the back and forth of the day, washing away and redrawing the Formation Pivot repeatedly, with little to no progress made.
Seeing it was getting late, Elder Yu comforted Mo Hua,
“Get a good rest, and try again tomorrow; there’s no need to rush.”
Having drawn all day with no progress, Mo Hua indeed felt somewhat fatigued, and his Divine Sense was no longer clear, so he nodded in agreement.
After Mo Hua left, Master Chen asked Elder Yu, “Is this Formation particularly difficult?”
He had never seen Mo Hua fail so many times in succession before.
“Mo Hua has tried so many times without success; it must be very difficult!”
Master Chen thought about it and felt it made sense.
Night had just fallen; the sky wasn’t very dark yet, and Master Chen could still see the remnants of the Formation Patterns on the Artifact Furnace—patterns that were not only large but also complex and profound.
He couldn’t understand them at all.
Master Chen shook his head; he didn’t draw Formations, and just watching all day had left him feeling mentally and spiritually fatigued, let alone Mo Hua, who had drawn them over and over.
Mo Hua certainly felt weary, but more than that, he felt a lack of fulfillment.
After Mo Hua got home, he ate the dinner his mother had prepared, then went to his room to rest and recuperate for a while.
Once he felt energized, Mo Hua repeatedly went over the process of Drawing Formation during the day in his mind, pondering his gains and losses.
As soon as it was 1 p.m., Mo Hua flopped onto the bed, closed his eyes, and his Divine Sense plunged into the Sea of Consciousness.
The Taoist Stele emerged within the Sea of Consciousness.
Mo Hua began to practice the Compound Formation on the Taoist Stele again.
Because Drawing during the day had been difficult and drawing on the inner walls of the Refining Furnace, especially a large Formation, was akin to “weight training,” now Drawing on the Taoist Stele came much more naturally.
The Formation Patterns that had been somewhat awkward were now much smoother.
Mo Hua practiced the Formation method all night on the Taoist Stele.
Aside from memorizing the Formation Pivot structure and the Formation Pattern styles even more thoroughly, his Divine Sense also strengthened somewhat.
And it was this slight increase that allowed Mo Hua to cross the threshold and successfully draw the Melting Fire Compound Formation.
Early the next day, Mo Hua got up early, ate the fragrant and appetizing breakfast Liu Ruhua had made, and then set off for the Refinery Shop.
Elder Yu and Master Chen didn’t sleep well either.
Elder Yu worried about the Refinery Shop, Master Chen worried about the Refining Furnace, and both were concerned about Mo Hua.
After all, Mo Hua was still a child. She had been drawing formations all day yesterday, erasing and redrawing without making any progress, which likely took a toll on her morale.
As the two elders fretted over this, they saw Mo Hua, with her storage bag slung over her shoulder, striding over valiantly as if she wouldn’t give up on that magical forge furnace.
Only then did Elder Yu and Master Chen realize their worries might have been superfluous.
Mo Hua, full of energy and fighting spirit, started drawing the formations again without a word.
This time, she found the task much smoother.
But she still made some small errors, and ultimately, she was unable to complete the Formation Pivot.
On the third day, Mo Hua finally managed to draw the Formation Pivot.
The Formation Pivot is the core structure of a Compound Formation and the gateway to Divine Sense in such an enchantment. Once the Formation Pivot is realized with a single thought, it signifies success in a major part of the task. Everything afterwards would become much simpler.
Mo Hua heaved a sigh of relief.
“Have you finished?” Elder Yu asked in a hushed voice upon seeing this.
“Not yet, but the Formation Pivot is done. The rest will be quick,” said Mo Hua with a smile, wiping the sweat from her forehead.
Her face was smeared with red and black Spiritual Ink, making her look somewhat grubby.
Elder Yu used his sleeve to wipe her face, offering words of encouragement.
Master Chen also chimed in from the side, “You are doing very well!”
Although he had no idea in what way.
After eating something, Mo Hua sat in meditation to recuperate her Divine Sense, took a short walk to relax her spirit, and then continued with her Formation Painting.
With the Formation Pivot completed, the framework of the Compound Formation was established.
Up next was the First-grade Melting Fire Formation to be drawn.
Among First-grade Formations, the Melting Fire Formation was a bit more difficult, but it was nothing compared to a First-grade Compound Formation.
Mo Hua didn’t take long to complete the First-grade Melting Fire Formation.
Now, she could not draw any more formations for the time being. The next step was to use the First-grade Melting Fire Formation to test whether the Formation Pivot was effective.
If it wasn’t effective, Mo Hua would still have to erase and redraw everything.
Thinking of this, and considering how much of the Spiritual Ink she had already wasted drawing and erasing, drawing and erasing, Mo Hua felt a surge of distress.
Indeed, a Taoist Stele that could draw formations without the need for ink was the best!
There was no need to worry about wasting ink when drawing on a Taoist Stele.
Mo Hua sighed and began to verify whether the Formation Pivot was effective.
“Oh right, there’s also a Spirit Gathering Array,” she suddenly remembered.
Mo Hua recalled that the Spirit Gathering Array was the Formation Eye of the Compound Formation, needing to absorb Spirit Stones to provide Spiritual Power and to set the enchantment in motion.
Previously, the formations Mo Hua drew weren’t particularly powerful, and most of them were one-off, or at most reusable a limited number of times, so there was no need to draw a separate Spirit Gathering Array.
For those formations, it was sufficient to incorporate a Spirit Gathering Formation Pattern or to rely on the inherent ability of the Formation Patterns to adsorb Spiritual Power.
But now things were different.
A large Artifact Furnace required immensely powerful heat, meaning it would consume copious amounts of Spirit Stones to supply a vast amount of Spiritual Power, which would then be converted into heat through the complex formations.
At the same time, the Artifact Furnace needed to be long-lasting, able to function repeatedly and to supply fire efficiently and consistently.
This meant that the enchantments on the Artifact Furnace must contain a Formation Eye, Formation Pivot, Formation Patterns, and Formation Media, making up a stable Spiritual Power supply circulation system.
The Formation Eye provides Spiritual Power, the Formation Pivot controls it, Formation Patterns convert it, and Formation Media bear it.
Only this constitutes a true Formation energy circulation system, the most fundamental structure of Spiritual Power circulation within a Formation.
To be able to create and apply such a Spirit Power circulation in a Compound Formation signifies true mastery of the basic logic of Spiritual Power operation in Formation principles, marking a genuine ascent in the way of Formation Mastery!