Arrays of Immortality

Chapter 9: Bright Fire Array

In the sea of consciousness, the figure of Mo Hua appears just like his physical body, capable of moving freely. However, it is not flesh, nor is it made of spiritual power, but only a shadow of his consciousness.

Mo Hua's shadow holds its breath and focuses, using his finger like a pen to draw the patterns of the Bright Fire Array on the Dao stone.

The light blue lines flow skillfully with Mo Hua's finger on the dark black Dao stone, gradually appearing as strands of intricate lines, progressing from simple to complex, connecting into a profound design.

After completing the second pattern, Mo Hua feels a strange fatigue and pain as he continues drawing the next one.

It feels as if his sea of consciousness has been breached, and his divine sense is flowing out like a tide.

The more his divine sense flows out, the more it depletes his sea of consciousness, which begins to crack like a riverbed as the water recedes. A sharp pain develops, and his scalp begins to tingle.

Mo Hua starts to feel his thoughts slowing down, and drawing the third pattern becomes slower.

Suddenly, a sharp, stabbing pain comes from his sea of consciousness. Mo Hua briefly loses focus and inadvertently makes a mistake in the pattern on the stone.

He has to stop and clutch his head, waiting for the pain to subside.

After about a cup of tea's time, Mo Hua finally recovers. He realizes:

"Drawing formations requires an immense amount of divine sense, far more than any other cultivation method! And far more than I had imagined!"

"That's why the diagram specially warns with red ink, advising those with insufficient cultivation to be cautious. If someone's cultivation is not enough, and their divine sense is weak, forcing oneself to replicate a formation would drain their divine sense, even leading to its complete exhaustion…"

Exhaustion of divine sense brings intense pain to a cultivator, and if the sea of consciousness is damaged, it can crack. If it cracks too much, the sea of consciousness will shatter, and the cultivator will die.

This was something the instructor had mentioned in the formation class. Mo Hua hadn't paid much attention at the time, but now, the thought fills him with a chill.

"The Bright Fire Array requires at least the third level of Qi Refining, but I'm only at the second level… My divine sense is indeed lacking…"

Mo Hua holds his head with both hands, lying on the ground of his sea of consciousness, slowly contemplating:

"Though I'm lacking, I shouldn't be too far off. My divine sense is naturally a bit stronger than others, and I've studied formations for a long time. If I practice more, I should be able to draw it."

"If I can't do it in one go, I'll try again—second time, third time… Each time my divine sense will grow a little, and with every extra stroke, I'll be closer to drawing the formation properly."

After some thought, Mo Hua gets up and erases the unfinished patterns from the Dao stone, allowing his divine sense to refill.

It feels as if he never drew the formation, yet every stroke he made is etched in his mind.

Mo Hua can't help but marvel.

Fortunately, there is this Dao stone. Otherwise, with his divine sense nearly exhausted, who knows how long it would take to recover before being able to attempt the second round. If it took ten or fifteen days to learn the Bright Fire Array, his deposit of spirit stones would be depleted.

Thinking of this, Mo Hua's heart aches, and his divine sense becomes more focused as he begins to draw the second attempt at the Bright Fire Array.

Time seems to disappear in the virtual white sea of consciousness.

Mo Hua draws for a while, stops for a break, and when he can't continue, he erases it and starts over.

After an unknown number of attempts, Mo Hua finally draws the complete Bright Fire Array.

He exhales deeply and collapses on the ground, feeling as though his divine sense has been completely drained, like a little salted fish.

After resting for half a cup of tea's time, Mo Hua finally has the energy to stand up and admire his first drawn formation—the Bright Fire Array.

On the pitch-black Dao stone, a complete formation of light blue lines appears. The patterns are precise and beautiful, carrying an unknown mysterious aura. The light and dark of the formation seem to contain unspoken rules and power.

This is the formation!

Mo Hua's mind becomes hazy, as if there is nothing more beautiful than these lines containing rules. Just looking at them makes him lose himself in them.

Mo Hua stares, but then suddenly realizes something is wrong.

The lines were light blue when he drew them, but now they seem to be gradually fading, and their color is dimming, turning into a pale gray.

It's as if the Dao stone is telling Mo Hua that he made a mistake…

Mo Hua is stunned.

"I made a mistake?"

"Could it be…?"

Mo Hua feels a bit disheartened, but still regains his focus and carefully inspects each stroke. Eventually, he finds that he did indeed make mistakes, and not just one.

Some lines are too long, others are connected at the wrong angles, and the merging of the fire patterns is incorrect...

Because of the mistakes, he didn't expend as much divine sense and was able to finish the Bright Fire Array.

Mo Hua scratches his head and carefully takes note of the errors, then erases the formation and starts again.

…

After repeating this process many times, Mo Hua starts to feel dizzy, his sea of consciousness aching, and his senses numbing. The patterns on the Dao stone begin to blur in his vision.

At some point, in his dazed state, he finishes the last stroke.

The Dao stone seems to tremble slightly, and the light blue formation begins to emit a soft white glow. In the white light, faint flames flicker, like the glow of a candle in the darkness.

The Bright Fire Array!

Mo Hua can't contain his excitement, and all his fatigue from the night disappears.

For the first time in his life, Mo Hua truly feels the power of a cultivator, that feeling of comprehending the world and using a formation to embody the rules of heaven, controlling the power of the world.

Though it's only a small step and a bit of power, it is the first drop of water in the river that will eventually lead to the great path.

Mo Hua feels proud. Although the Bright Fire Array is only used for lighting and is one of the most common and inexpensive formations, it has illuminated the first path of Mo Hua's cultivation journey.

Mo Hua, still unsatisfied, wants to draw it a few more times. But he knows that his weak divine sense is like a candle in the wind, unable to withstand more strain.

If he keeps going, his sea of consciousness may not dry up, but he will surely go mad.

After all, although divine sense recovers, the process of drawing formations gradually depletes it, and that process is not comfortable.

This is Mo Hua's first time drawing a formal formation, but it will not be his last.

He plans to practice the Bright Fire Array every night, and once he becomes proficient, he will use the materials from the formation hall to create formations, trade them for spirit stones with the manager, and hopefully gather enough to cover his sect fees. This way, his parents won't have to work so hard.

"That's enough for tonight..."

The Bright Fire Array on the Dao stone glows brightly. Mo Hua admires it for a while, nods in satisfaction, and reluctantly sweeps his hand to erase the formation.

As the formation disappears, his divine sense flows like the rising and falling tide, the moon waxing and waning, like water breaking through a dam, then returning to its source. His exhausted divine sense refills, and his sea of consciousness is once again full.

Mo Hua stands before the Dao stone, feeling the fullness of his divine sense. At this moment, it feels just like when he first entered his sea of consciousness hours ago.

The sensation of divine sense ebbing and flowing, of fullness and emptiness, is always fascinating, no matter how many times he experiences it.

This time, the experience is even more profound than before.

Mo Hua gazes at the Dao stone, which appears dark and deep, as if it contains everything, seemingly empty, yet capable of revealing everything.

Converting divine sense into formations, reversing formations into divine sense, where the presence of one gives birth to the other, and they continuously transform.

A line from an ancient text suddenly comes to mind:

"Presence gives it value, absence makes it useful!"

(This phrase is often associated with Daoist philosophy, particularly emphasizing the balance and interplay between existence and non-existence.)

(End of Chapter)