The next day, Qian Hong met with Elder Yu.
Mo Hua peeked into the mine tunnel and secretly looked over, instantly recognizing Qian Hong.
Qian Hong was Qian Xing’s father. Mo Hua had used the Earth Fire Array to blow up Qian Xing. Knowing what Qian Xing looked like, he found it easy to recognize Qian Hong since they looked alike.
Besides, even without looking at their faces, it was easy to identify the only two Foundation Building cultivators among the Qian family cultivators.
Qian Zhongxuan stood right next to Qian Hong. Although both were Foundation Building cultivators, Qian Hong's demeanor was clearly superior.
Qian Zhongxuan had deep nasolabial lines and a stern face, but in terms of imposing presence, he couldn’t compare to Qian Hong, the head of the Qian family.
Mo Hua curiously asked, "Elder, why do you call Qian Hong 'Old Turtle'?"
At least, on the surface, Qian Hong seemed to be proud and handsome, with an extraordinary bearing.
Elder Yu said, "Do you want to know?"
"Alright, just watch later."
Watch? Watch what?
Mo Hua was a bit confused.
After a while, both sides faced off. Elder Yu stood in a warrior stance at the entrance of the cave, directly cursing at Qian Hong and Qian Zhongxuan.
He cursed them from head to toe.
Qian Zhongxuan trembled with anger, but Qian Hong's expression remained calm, as if he hadn't heard anything.
Elder Yu, tired from cursing, stopped to rest and said to Mo Hua, "Do you understand now?"
Mo Hua nodded in amazement,
"Indeed, he's an 'Old Turtle'—he can really endure!"
Despite being cursed like that by Elder Yu, he remained unfazed, silent, without even moving an eyebrow.
"This, to put it nicely, is called deep scheming; to put it bluntly, it's shameless." Elder Yu said.
Mo Hua asked, "Elder, won't it be bad to anger him like this?"
Elder Yu scoffed, "It makes no difference whether we provoke him or not. As long as there's benefit, he won't recognize kin. Don't think that not provoking him will make him merciful."
Mo Hua nodded, then asked, "Are we going to fight them next?"
Elder Yu sighed, "It's best not to fight. We've been fighting for too long and are exhausted, while they keep rotating fresh forces. Engaging them head-on would be disadvantageous. Also, we have limited food and healing pills."
"Should we run?"
"Yes."
"How do we run? With so many Qian family cultivators, it won't be easy to escape." Mo Hua frowned.
"I initially wanted to defeat the Qian family and openly transport the spirit mine out. But now, with Qian family cultivators swarming like locusts, and Qian Hong himself here, that's no longer feasible."
Elder Yu said, "Our only option is to dig another tunnel and sneak away."
Mo Hua was stunned, "A tunnel? Can we dig it in time?"
Elder Yu sighed, "Hard to say. We need to hold the entrance as long as possible."
Mo Hua nodded but felt it would be difficult to hold.
The mine entrance was indeed hard to defend.
Subsequently, the Qian family attacked irregularly every day, not greedy for merit, not lingering in battle, purely to wear down the demon hunters’ morale.
They also kept the demon hunters occupied, preventing them from taking other actions.
Elder Yu had to have people guard the entrance, mine the spirit mine, and dig another tunnel for escape.
For a while, he was quite overwhelmed.
Mo Hua was also worried but had no good solution.
One day, Elder Yu suddenly found Mo Hua and helplessly asked, "Mo Hua, is there any array that can seal the mine?"
Since they couldn’t hold it, it would be better to seal it completely. That way, the Qian family couldn't get in, and they could leave through the tunnel.
"Seal it completely?"
"Just leave one or two openings."
Mo Hua thought for a moment, his eyes lit up, "Yes!"
He thought of an array that could solidify earth and stone to seal the entrance, found in the array book given by Mr. Zhuang.
Elder Yu's spirits lifted, "Can you draw it now?"
"No." Mo Hua shook his head, "I haven't learned it yet."
Elder Yu sighed, "Then I'll have everyone hold on a bit longer. You start learning... no rush..."
In truth, Elder Yu was very anxious.
Short-term endurance was manageable, but dragging it out with the Qian family like this, each day was torment. The Qian family had supplies and manpower, but they did not.
Yet Elder Yu didn’t want to pressure Mo Hua, who had already helped a lot.
He knew learning arrays wasn’t easy. Many array masters took ten days to half a month to learn an array. Otherwise, array masters wouldn't be so rare.
Elder Yu hesitated.
Not knowing how long Mo Hua would take to learn this array, if it took ten days to half a month, they might not hold out and would need another plan.
Elder Yu was about to leave but couldn't help asking softly,
"Mo Hua, I'm not rushing you, but how long do you think you'll take to learn this array?"
Mo Hua thought for a moment, then said,
"Quickly, by tomorrow morning; slowly, the day after tomorrow."
It wasn’t an obscure first-grade array, and Mo Hua was learning quickly now, memorizing array patterns by day, practicing on the Dao Stele by night. If he couldn’t learn it in one night, two would be enough.
Elder Yu opened his mouth.
He felt his earlier worries were unnecessary, his mood fluctuating wildly, "Do all you array masters learn this fast…"
Mo Hua chuckled, "Probably not all."
"So it’s just this kid Mo Hua who learns fast…" Elder Yu glanced at Mo Hua, thinking silently.
Anyway, whether tomorrow or the day after, the time was enough.
Elder Yu breathed a sigh of relief, "You study at your own pace, I won't disturb you." Then he left with a relaxed expression.
Mo Hua opened the "Thousand Arrays Compendium," found an array, the "First-Grade Earth Stone Array."
The Earth Stone Array was a type of first-grade earth array, which could merge and solidify earth and stone, making it tougher.
The array patterns weren't difficult; Mo Hua memorized them after a few glances. It was still early, a few hours before midnight.
At midnight, Mo Hua could enter the sea of consciousness and practice on the Dao Stele.
"What to do now?"
Mo Hua propped his chin in thought.
He had memorized the array patterns, and looking more wouldn't help.
So, he took out paper and ink, deciding to practice drawing the "First-Grade Earth Stone Array."
Usually, he practiced arrays on the Dao Stele first before drawing on paper to save ink.
But now wasn’t the time to worry about ink.
Mo Hua started drawing the Earth Stone Array on paper.
As expected, the first drawing failed.
Mo Hua felt regret but not much distress; he had accumulated over a thousand bottles of demonic blood and wasn’t short of ink.
He drew the second one, still failed.
The third one, failed again.
Mo Hua summarized his mistakes, calmed down, continued drawing, and gradually succeeded…
He tried infusing spiritual energy; the array patterns lit up, emitting a faint gray light.
Succeeded?
Mo Hua was initially happy, then felt somewhat… anticlimactic.
He had planned to spend the night practicing the Earth Stone Array, but now he had learned it before night.
"What should I learn tonight?"
Mo Hua scratched his head, flipped through the messy array books beside him, and accidentally saw an array:
"First-Grade Earth-Wood Composite Array."