The next day, Yu Chengyi made a special trip to the eatery to find Mo Hua, who was busy drawing array patterns.
"Mo Hua, drawing arrays again?" Yu Chengyi greeted somewhat stiffly.
"Uncle Yu?" Mo Hua looked surprised. "What brings you here?"
"I came to see you," Yu Chengyi said with a smile.
Mo Hua also smiled. "Thank you for yesterday, Uncle Yu."
Yu Chengyi waved his hand dismissively. "It was nothing."
Mo Hua glanced at Yu Chengyi again and asked, "Uncarely, you must be here for something?"
With the Demon Hunter team so busy, it was unlikely he would visit without a reason.
Yu Chengyi hesitated before asking, "Mo Hua, the array you used yesterday, what was it?"
The Earth Fire Array... Just the name suggested its formidable power.
Yu Chengyi nodded, then asked with some anticipation:
"Can this Earth Fire Array injure a mid-stage Tier-One demonic beast?"
"Yes," Mo Hua replied. "But one alone isn’t powerful enough; using four or five together could severely injure a mid-stage Tier-One demonic beast, then a few more strikes to finish it off."
Just as expected!
Yu Chengyi got excited for a moment. "When you have time, could you draw a few for me, Uncle Yu?"
"Uncle Yu, do you need them? But this array might not be very useful for you," Mo Hua wondered aloud.
Yu Chengyi was already a ninth-level Qi cultivator, capable of hunting mid-stage Tier-One demonic beasts without relying on arrays.
For late-stage Tier-One demonic beasts, the power of the Earth Fire Array was rather limited.
"I won't use them myself; I thought they might be useful for the novices."
Yu Chengyi sighed. "Their cultivation levels aren’t up to par; following us, they sometimes don’t even get to drink the broth. It’ll take too long for them to stand on their own. With this array, at least they can earn some spirit stones."
Mo Hua thought of Da Hu and the others.
Just becoming a Demon Hunter was dangerous and hardly lucrative—it was indeed the most difficult period.
Mo Hua agreed: "I can do that."
Yu Chengyi breathed a sigh of relief, then his expression became troubled as he gritted his teeth and asked, "How many spirit stones would drawing this array cost…"
This array was no simple matter, surely more complex than the Iron Armor Array, and deserved a higher reward, but he really couldn’t offer much.
Yu Chengyi was finally understanding his father’s dilemma.
Knowing it was a tough request, yet he had to ask shamelessly. He couldn’t offer many spirit stones, yet he had to ask someone to do him a favor.
And that someone was a mere teenager.
The usually generous Yu Chengyi couldn’t help but lower his eyes, too embarrassed to look at Mo Hua.
Mo Hua sighed inwardly.
Whether it was Elder Yu or Uncle Yu, they were both proud men, yet they were willing to set aside their pride for other Demon Hunters.
Mo Hua felt a surge of respect and with a twinkling black eye, he smiled and said:
"Uncle Yu, let’s make a deal."
Yu Chengyi was stunned. "A deal?"
"Yes, a deal!"
Mo Hua said, "You just provide me with the spirit ink. I’ll draw the arrays, and after they’re used in hunts, we split the spirit stones earned, giving me a share as my fee for drawing the arrays."
Yu Chengyi’s eyes lit up. "That’s a great idea!"
"But I have one more condition," Mo Hua added.
"Anything, just say it!" Yu Chengyi was eager not to let Mo Hua lose out.
"I want the demonic blood after the beasts are killed."
"Demonic blood?" Yu Chengyi looked puzzled. "What do you need demonic blood for?"
"To mix the spirit ink for drawing arrays."
Hearing it was for arrays, Yu Chengyi immediately nodded:
"That’s no problem; nobody wants the demonic blood, it’s all yours."
"But," Yu Chengyi paused to think, then continued, "can we collect the demonic blood for you? Dahei Mountain is quite dangerous, it’s better if you don’t go there."
"I need to use the Blood Drawing Technique myself," Mo Hua said.
"That so..."
Yu Chengyi felt a bit regretful; he didn’t want Mo Hua to take risks, but it seemed there was no choice.
"Then please be very careful," Yu Chengyi advised.
"Mmm, don’t worry, Uncle Yu, I’ll be careful."
After discussing some more details, Yu Chengyi said,
"Then I’ll head back first, won’t disturb your drawing
."
As he left, he also bought a few pounds of beef.
Mo Hua waved goodbye.
Yu Chengyi, holding the beef, left the eatery, feeling as if a weight had been lifted off his shoulders.
"What a great kid..."
Smart and sensible, understanding of human feelings, and so talented in arrays.
Indeed, as the old saying goes, 'Ginger gets spicier as it ages,' his father’s judgment of people was truly accurate.
Initially, his father had asked him to check on Mo Hua, to get acquainted, which he had been reluctant about. Now, he wished he could move next to Mo Hua’s house.
Seeing each other without looking up is what truly means to be familiar.
"I’ll instruct old Zhao and the others to look out for Mo Hua in the mountains; we can’t let anything happen to him!"
Yu Chengyi thought to himself.
After Yu Chengyi had left, Mo Hua also sighed in relief.
He had been wondering how to gather more demonic blood to mix with the spirit ink.
Relying solely on Da Hu and the others, there weren’t enough hands, and he couldn’t always ask Uncle Yu for help.
Now, it was sorted. He just needed to draw the arrays and use the Blood Drawing Technique to extract the demonic blood. Meanwhile, the novice Demon Hunters could gain more hunting experience and earn some spirit stones.
After all, Demon Hunters weren’t exactly wealthy.
With this thought, he had helped Uncle Yu, and Uncle Yu had helped him—it was indeed a situation where both benefitted.
Mo Hua quickly drew several Earth Fire Arrays and handed them to Yu Chengyi.
Yu Chengyi had people try using the Earth Fire Arrays to hunt demonic beasts, but it failed.
The issue lay with the traps.
Other Demon Hunters could also set traps, but their placement wasn’t ideal, and the techniques were somewhat crude, easily detected by the demonic beasts.
If the beasts weren’t caught in the traps, they couldn’t be contained, and naturally, the Earth Fire Arrays couldn’t be detonated.
Yu Chengyi came to ask Mo Hua if there was a solution.
Mo Hua thought for a moment, then recommended Uncle Chu—Chu Guangshan.
Mo Hua’s own trap-setting skills had been learned from Uncle Chu, making him the best person for the job.
Thus, Chu Guangshan, who had been too injured to hunt anymore, rejoined the Demon Hunter team and entered Dahei Mountain.
He was responsible for tracking the demonic beasts, setting traps, then laying Mo Hua’s Earth Fire Arrays, which would be ignited by arrows tipped with fire stones.
After the explosion of the Earth Fire Arrays, he didn’t need to act; the other Demon Hunters would naturally finish off the beasts.
Even though he was severely injured and couldn't fight the beasts directly, he still helped in hunting them and ended up earning a substantial amount of spirit stones.
Chu Guangshan bought many items with his share of the spirit stones and visited with Jiang Yun to express their gratitude.
Both husband and wife were not very articulate.
Jiang Yun blushed, and Chu Guangshan was also tongue-tied, unsure of what to say.
Mo Hua watched the couple struggle to express themselves and felt a mix of amusement and emotion.
The old saying indeed held true: "If you’re not family, you don’t enter the same door."