After Mo Hua returned home, he had dinner with his parents. His mother helped him prepare some soy beef, snacks, and fermented rice wine, and then he locked himself in his room, concentrating on solving arrays.
He started by drawing a fire array pattern on paper. Once drawn, the pattern turned a pale red and emitted a faint heat.
Then, following the methods described in a book, Mo Hua drew a water array pattern adjacent to the fire pattern on the Kan position.
After he finished drawing, the red of the fire pattern slowly faded; the faint red aura was no longer visible, and it no longer felt warm to the touch.
This meant that the fire array pattern was deactivated.
Bolstered by this success, Mo Hua tried breaking other five-element array patterns one by one, indeed able to deactivate them using the principles of generation and overcoming among the five elements.
Next, he turned to arrays, taking some time to draw a Blazing Fire Array.
The Blazing Fire Array, composed of three array patterns, is among the simplest kinds of arrays.
When Mo Hua had first drawn the Blazing Fire Array for the manager, it was also the first one he drew. Now, redrawing this array came effortlessly to him.
Mo Hua pondered the Blazing Fire Array.
Previously, when he drew the Blazing Fire Array, he simply copied the forms without much thought. Now, examining it carefully, he realized that indeed, one of the patterns was for gathering spirit, while the other two were ordinary fire patterns, meant to illuminate and activate the array.
Following Bai Zisheng's instructions, Mo Hua checked each component.
The spirit-gathering pattern was the array eye, the tripartite positions served as the array hub, and the paper used for drawing was the array medium.
Mo Hua tore a slit in the array paper, and as expected, the array on the paper was deactivated. He then redrew the Blazing Fire Array and altered the spirit-gathering pattern that served as the array eye, deactivating the array once more.
"So this is what they call, 'Damage the array medium, destroy the array eye, thus breaking the array'..."
"This method is... simple and brutal, even those who don’t understand arrays can break them this way. Hmm, if you don't understand arrays, this forceful method is your only option."
"What about the Riddle Array in my sea of consciousness? What serves as its array eye and medium?"
"If spiritual power is supplied by the array eye, then the Qi sea must be the array eye, and since the Riddle Array resides in the sea of consciousness, then the sea of consciousness is the array medium? To break the array, would that mean..."
"Self-destruct the Qi sea and also ruin my own sea of consciousness?!"
Mo Hua broke out in a cold sweat.
"Let’s not..."
Breaking an array in such a crude manner lacks the refinement expected of an array master and does not demonstrate the skill level of an array master.
Dismissing these distracting thoughts, Mo Hua drew another Blazing Fire Array and then meticulously solved it again, suddenly realizing that this method of solving was too wasteful in terms of paper and ink. Drawing and solving repeatedly, and if he solved it incorrectly, he'd have to redraw everything. This consumed more paper and ink than even his practice of array techniques.
The issue of spirit stones was still serious. Although the income from the eatery had improved his family’s financial situation, and they were not desperately short of ordinary spirit stones, it was still better to save wherever possible, as they would need plenty of spirit stones in the future.
"The Dao Stele in my sea of consciousness, perfect for practicing breaking arrays..."
Thinking this, Mo Hua submerged his spiritual sense into his sea of consciousness.
In the vast, empty expanse of his sea of consciousness, the mysterious Riddle Array woven from strands of spiritual power remained, as did the Dao Stele, seemingly unaffected by the spiritual strands.
With practiced ease, Mo Hua drew a Blazing Fire Array on the Dao Stele and tried to solve it. After solving it, the brightness of the Blazing Fire Array dimmed.
Mo Hua erased the array and the array patterns used for solving, and the consumed spiritual sense was restored.
"Indeed!"
Mo Hua was overjoyed. The Dao Stele was not only suitable for practicing array techniques but also for practicing how to break them.
Draw, then erase—the spiritual sense would recover, meaning there was no consumption of spiritual sense, and it also saved on paper and ink.
Mo Hua then focused on practicing breaking arrays in his sea of consciousness until the hour of Yin, after which he meditated for an hour, then woke up refreshed.
Mo Shan and Liu Ruhua also woke up early, with Mo Shan heading to
Dahei Mountain to hunt demons, and Liu Ruhua preparing for the eatery's business.
After a simple, warm, and delicious breakfast, Mo Hua, carrying a food box, then headed to Mr. Zhuang's place.