The Qian family continued their harassment repeatedly.
Elder Yu caught them one by one, beat them until they vomited blood, and then threw them at the Qian family's gate, demanding spirit stones as compensation.
But the Qian family remained undeterred, and Elder Yu eventually found himself unable to keep up.
It was like catching mice—one after another, troublesome and disgusting. Missing a few would leave hidden dangers.
Some craftsmen were injured, some buildings were destroyed, and several arrays were smeared, causing delays in the entire project.
Elder Yu had to let the demon hunters guard day and night, keeping an eye on the Qian family's people to prevent their mischief.
But the crafting shop was so large and yet to be completed, with leaks everywhere. It was easy to cause trouble and difficult to guard.
The Qian family cultivators acted like thieves, smashing one place and moving to another. By the time they arrived, the Qian family cultivators had already run away.
And the demon hunters couldn't stay here day and night, wasting so much manpower.
Mo Hua was also unhappy. The Qian family caused trouble, and it was either Elder Yu who dealt with it or the demon hunters who intercepted them, without needing Mo Hua to act.
But the Qian family destroyed the arrays that Mo Hua had just finished drawing, forcing Mo Hua to redraw them.
After several incidents, while Elder Yu was irritated, Mo Hua also couldn't bear it anymore.
If the mice weren't driven out, the house couldn't be lived in!
Mo Hua found Elder Yu and gave him some Earth Fire Arrays. These Earth Fire Arrays were not first-grade, containing only seven array patterns, but they should be enough to deal with those troublemakers.
Mo Hua also modified the architectural array diagram, adding a Master-Sub Earth-Wood Composite Array around the originally planned array diagram.
This way, if a battle occurred and spiritual power fluctuations were generated, the demon hunters could quickly rush to support. Even if the Qian family cultivators smashed things, as long as they used spiritual power, they could be quickly detected.
With this arrangement, by stationing some demon hunters in various places and having several teams of demon hunters holding the Master-Sub Earth-Wood Arrays patrolling and responding, the Qian family cultivators would have no opportunity.
Once everything was arranged, Mo Hua took two days to prioritize drawing the Master-Sub Earth-Wood Composite Array, then explained the purpose of the Earth-Wood Compasses to the patrolling demon hunters. After that, he didn't need to worry about it anymore.
However, he still had to redraw some of the arrays that had been destroyed.
Mo Hua sighed and could only calm down and continue drawing the arrays.
Night fell, and Qian Shunzhi, leading some Qian family disciples and gathered rogue cultivators, hid under a dirt slope far from the crafting shop.
The surrounding vegetation concealed their view, making it hard for them to be discovered.
Despite their significant losses in recent days, they had also achieved good results.
With these casualties, they had delayed the construction progress of the crafting shop, which was recognized by Elder Qian, and the family head rewarded them with many spirit stones.
This boosted their morale.
Qian Shunzhi said, "We are injured and bleeding for the Qian family. The family will not forget us, and the family head will reward us. As long as we succeed, we will have plenty of spirit stones!"
The Qian family disciples and rogue cultivators, having tasted the rewards, nodded in agreement.
Qian Shunzhi instructed, "Act as before. If you can fight, fight; if you can smash, smash. If the situation turns bad, retreat immediately."
The group divided into teams, each finding a place to hide, then looking for gaps to sneak into the crafting shop and cause destruction.
Everything was as usual, and these Qian family cultivators were already skilled at this.
At this moment, explosions rang out, and flames blossomed in the night.
Several Qian family cultivators stepped on the Earth Fire Arrays.
The higher-level cultivators were not severely injured but felt pain, dizziness, and ringing in their ears. The lower-level cultivators bled, sometimes burned, lying on the ground and wailing.
A few rogue cultivators had their clothes and hair burned, rolling on the ground.
Qian Shunzhi was shocked and took a cold breath.
It was the Earth Fire Array!
Qian Shunzhi hadn't participated in the spirit mine dispute with the demon hunters, but he had heard from the Qian family disciples who had that there was an array master among the demon hunters who could draw the Earth Fire Arrays.
The Earth Fire Arrays were powerful, very concealed, extremely insidious, unavoidable, and indefensible.
The Qian family had suffered greatly from the Earth Fire Arrays, not just once.
"What to do?"
Qian Shunzhi's mind raced, and in desperation, he decided to take a gamble.
They had come to cause trouble two days ago, but there were no Earth Fire Arrays on the ground then. Clearly, these Earth Fire Arrays had just been laid, so there shouldn't be many.
If they didn't go in now, giving the demon hunters time, in a few days, when the Earth Fire Arrays were everywhere, it would be like walking on thorns, and going in would be suicidal.
But while Qian Shunzhi wanted to gamble, the other Qian family cultivators didn't.
Especially those who had participated in the spirit mine dispute, who had been blown up by the Earth Fire Arrays, or had seen their companions blown up, or at least had seen the family head blown up by the Earth Fire Arrays.
They still had lingering fears of the Earth Fire Arrays and didn't dare act rashly.
Although the Earth Fire Arrays now had only seven array patterns and, for convenience, Mo Hua hadn't even drawn a composite array.
But the Qian family disciples were scared just seeing the Earth Fire Arrays, not having the mind to think about so much.
Qian Shunzhi had no choice but to lead by example.
He was a ninth-level Qi cultivator, and even if he was blown up, the injuries shouldn't be severe.
Qian Shunzhi led his subordinates, gritting their teeth, and walked forward, stepping cautiously, trying to avoid the ground dangers. But this caution was meaningless because he didn't know where the Earth Fire Arrays were.
Every step was a gamble.
Seemingly cautious, it was actually just a pretense.
Qian Shunzhi bet correctly and didn't step on the Earth Fire Arrays.
But his subordinates bet wrong, not following Qian Shunzhi's steps precisely, and in their panic, stepped on an Earth Fire Array.
Qian Shunzhi was engulfed by the Earth Fire Array, experiencing its power up close.
The explosion's spiritual power fluctuation shook his blood and energy, and the booming sound made him dizzy.
Part of his skin was scorched, with blood flowing from the charred areas.
The seven-pattern Earth Fire Array wasn't fatal for him, but it wasn't pleasant either, and such sudden pain and injury left a lasting fear.
Qian Shunzhi finally understood why some of the family's disciples always turned pale at the mention of the Earth Fire Arrays and why it left a shadow in their hearts.
The explosion of the Earth Fire Arrays alarmed the demon hunters, who rushed over and attacked them, seemingly harboring a lot of anger from being repeatedly harassed, making their attacks ruthless.
The Qian family cultivators couldn't hold on and fled in disarray.
Qian Shunzhi limped back to the Qian family and reported the Earth Fire Array to Elder Qian.
He could arrange sneak attacks, but this kind of array wasn't something he could deal with.
Elder Qian comforted Qian Shunzhi and then informed Family Head Qian Hong.
Qian Hong, upon hearing the words "Earth Fire Array," was furious.
Another Earth Fire Array! Couldn't there be something new?
Qian Hong found Master Qian and inquired about ways to break the array.
After all, within the Qian family, Master Qian's array skills were the highest.