Chapter 47: The Beginning of Fate
A few days later, Mo Hua had become much more proficient with the meditation technique. After entering a meditative state, his divine-sense recovered more than twice as fast as before. Originally, after drawing a formation, he would have to rest for half an hour, but now it only took the time for two or three cups of tea.
However, as he continued to practice, he could barely feel any further improvement.
This was probably what Mister Zhuang had meant when he said that meditation required cultivation of the heart. If one's state of mind didn't change much within a certain period, the effect of meditation wouldn't improve either. Only through years of perseverance could the benefits of meditation gradually increase.
It was slow, grinding work—something that couldn't be rushed.
Thanks to meditation, Mo Hua could now draw more formations each day, and his divine-sense grew slightly faster as well.
For almost a month afterward, Mo Hua spent most of his time learning formations from Mister Zhuang.
Sometimes, when Mister Zhuang was feeling lazy, he would give Mo Hua a few days off.
Mo Hua took the opportunity to visit Fate's Edge Pavilion, where he spoke to Manager Mo, telling him that he was now studying formations under his teacher and no longer had time to help the shop draw them.
Manager Mo wasn't surprised. He simply gave Mo Hua a glance and said, "Weren't the formations drawn by your elder brother?"
Mo Hua scratched his head and chuckled sheepishly.
Manager Mo sighed, then looked at Mo Hua.
"I've never seen a child with talent like yours in my life. No matter what, study well."
"Yes, Manager Mo!"
After a pause, Manager Mo seemed a little embarrassed, but still spoke in a low voice:
"In the future, if by chance—cough, cough—just in case I ever need something from you, and it's convenient for you, you'll help me out, won't you?"
"Don't worry, Manager. With the friendship we have, that's no problem at all," Mo Hua said, patting his chest.
Manager Mo couldn't help but laugh. He said, "Quite a big mouth you've got there," but his expression was clearly much happier.
After a moment's thought, Mo Hua asked, "Do you know where Instructor Yan went, Manager Mo?"
Manager Mo fell silent, then sighed. "That's his personal matter. It concerns the sect, so it's not convenient for me to tell you. When you grow older, if you still want to know, I'll tell you then."
Mo Hua nodded quietly.
After Dahu and the other two withdrew from the sect, they had more free time.
When they had nothing else to do, they would come to play with Mo Hua. Sometimes, when the restaurant was busy, they would lend a hand, then enjoy a hot bowl of beef noodles. Liu Ruhua would even let them take other food home.
Occasionally, when Mo Shan was at home, he would give them pointers in martial arts and daoist techniques.
Cultivators' techniques were divided into two main types: spells and martial arts.
Spirit cultivators practiced spells, while body cultivators practiced martial arts.
Martial dao techniques used spiritual power to awaken the body's latent potential, allowing the body to unleash great strength, along with the elemental attributes of the spiritual power itself, for close combat.
For example, Mo Shan was skilled in the Flaming Fist. When he struck, his fists were swift and fierce, surrounded by red fire-type spiritual power, with considerable destructive force.
Dahu and his friends followed Mo Shan in body training, their punches like tigers and gales. Mo Hua watched with envy.
Unfortunately, Mo Hua had no talent for body cultivation. He couldn't learn any of these martial arts, and even if he wished to learn offensive techniques in the future, he would likely take the path of a spirit cultivator, learning spells instead.
Spells were controlled by divine-sense, using spiritual power to condense techniques for ranged attacks, without the need to get close.
Dahu and the others trained diligently. They were already close to reaching the sixth level of Qi Refining, and at that stage, they would enter the Great Black Mountain to become demon hunters.
The Great Black Mountain was dangerous, filled with vicious beasts. Without sufficient skill, hunting demons there could easily mean death. Thus, they dared not slack off in the slightest.
The restaurant's business grew better by the day. Over time, its reputation spread, and even some well-off cultivators from the North Street area would make the trip across all of Tongxian City just to eat a plate of beef and drink a pot of rice wine.
In the entire city, this was the only place where one could eat meat for just two spirit stones.
And throughout the Great Black Mountain province, it was the only restaurant serving such delicious demon-beast beef.
With business booming, Liu Ruhua could no longer handle everything alone, so she hired two women to help. Both were from poor families, and their husbands had been crippled from demon hunting, unable to work.
Low-ranking cultivators were always diligent workers. Together with Jiang Yun, the two women kept the restaurant running in perfect order.
Jiang Yun worked hard in the restaurant, and life gradually became easier. Her husband's health also improved to the point where he could do light physical work. She was no longer as shy and reserved as before.
To thank Mo Shan and his wife, Jiang Yun spent time making all kinds of pastries as gifts, saying she had learned them from her mother.
Her family had once run a pastry shop when she was young, but misfortune later struck, and they lost everything, forcing the shop to close. Still, the craft had been passed down to her.
The pastries Jiang Yun made used simple ingredients, but they were delicious. Liu Ruhua asked her to make more to sell in the restaurant so she could earn extra spirit stones for her family.
In her spare time, Liu Ruhua also learned pastry-making from her. Some of the pastries Mo Hua brought to Old Kui had been learned from Jiang Yun.
In addition, Jiang Yun also roasted pine nuts.
There were many pine trees outside Tongxian City, so pine nuts were abundant, though they weren't considered filling, so no one bothered to collect them.
When gathering wild vegetables in the mountains, Jiang Yun would occasionally bring back pine nuts, roasting them in a wok until they were fragrant and crisp. In the restaurant, customers would buy them as snacks, either to go with wine or with tea.
The one who liked pine nuts the most turned out to be Old Kui.
Once, when Mo Hua brought pastries for Old Kui, he also brought a handful of pine nuts.
Old Kui sat cracking the pine nuts while playing the Five Elements chess game with Mo Hua. Listening to the crisp crackling sound and smelling the unique aroma, Old Kui seemed especially relaxed.
Before long, the pine nuts were gone even though the game was unfinished.
Old Kui, whose chess skills were never impressive to begin with, played even worse afterward. Although his face remained expressionless, Mo Hua could still sense a trace of disappointment.
As Mo Hua left, he said, "Grandpa Kui, next time I come, I'll bring more pine nuts for you."
Old Kui nodded.
As Mo Hua was leaving, the usually taciturn Old Kui even said, "Be careful on the road."
It was hard to say whether he was worried about Mo Hua—or the pine nuts.
From then on, Mo Hua's life gradually settled into stability.
In Tongxian City, within the countless lights of ten thousand households, there was joy and sorrow, partings and reunions, sweetness and bitterness. Cultivators all strove to live their lives. Mo Hua was just one small light among them, diligently cultivating and drawing formations.
In this way, more than a month passed.
As always, Mo Hua learned formations from Mister Zhuang, studying diagrams, practicing drawing, meditating to restore his divine-sense. The days were as calm as still water.
Yet Mo Hua's divine-sense and foundation in formations steadily solidified. His understanding of formation principles deepened, and after looking at and practicing the formations within the Six Paths Formation Pattern a few times, he could basically master them.
One clear morning, with bright sunshine and crisp mountain air, Mo Hua went to visit Mister Zhuang as usual to study formations—only to find several unfamiliar cultivators standing at the door.
(End of this chapter)