Asking About Longevity

Chapter 31 The Weapon Refiner

Master Chen is at the eighth level of Qi refining. He is more than a hundred years old. His beard and hair are half white, and he is strong and strong. His face has been burned by the fire all year round, making him dark, but he is energetic and has a loud voice.

Master Chen is watching several disciples forge iron. Perhaps some of the disciples did something wrong. Master Chen scolded him with his eyes widened. Several tall and strong weapon-refining disciples were being scolded obediently, without even daring to raise their heads.

After a thorough training, Master Chen personally demonstrated by swinging a sledgehammer. With his strong physique, he swung the sledgehammer with great force. The red-hot fine iron was beaten until sparks flew everywhere, and gradually the rudimentary shape of the knife was forged.

After beating him, Master Chen just wiped his sweat, his breath was even, and he didn't seem to have used any strength.

Mo Hua, who was born frail, looked envious. I wish I could have such strength someday...

"Look, iron is meant to be struck like this. What did you do just now? You are weak, but the older girls are more energetic than you at embroidery!"

Master Chen reprimanded several disciples again. He turned around and saw a child with red lips and white teeth and watery eyes looking at him with envy.

Master Chen hesitated for a moment and asked, "Little boy, do you also want to learn to make weapons?"

It is difficult for casual cultivators to make a living. They have to make a living after leaving the sect. Some people cannot learn anything practical in the sect, so they have to find their own way and learn a craft.

There are often monks nearby who send their children to Master Chen to learn how to make weapons with Master Chen so that they can be self-reliant in the future.

Master Chen just collected some spiritual stones at random. If there were no spiritual stones, he would collect some spiritual grains and the like as a bundle of cultivation.

Mo Hua looked at several tall disciples, then at his own little arms and legs, shook his head helplessly, and then said directly:

“Master, can you help me make stoves here?”

"Stove?" Master Chen looked at the ink painting, "You are a child, why do you ask this?"

 “I asked for my mother.”

“Of course I know how to make a stove, but refining a stove requires a lot of fine iron, and converting it into spiritual stones is not a small sum of money.”

 “Then if it’s a smaller one, wouldn’t it be cheaper?”

Master Chen said: "This is natural. Smaller stoves cost a lot less refined iron and manpower, so they are naturally cheaper. However, there are few people in Tongxian City who refine small stoves. The formation requires someone to design and prepare it separately. I'm afraid it will take a lot of spiritual stones to carve it."

“How many spiritual stones does it cost to refine the smallest stove?”

Master Chen did not hesitate just because Mo Hua was a child. Instead, he carefully took out a piece of paper, wrote down the prices of various materials recorded on it, and then calculated them together. Finally, he added the stoves of different sizes and scales. The spiritual stones spent are all listed.

Master Chen handed the paper to Mo Hua, and then said:

“Of course, this is just the cost of materials. We, the weapon refiners, also have to count the hours of work. We count it on a daily basis. We will charge as many days as it takes to refine the stove.”

 “Oh,” Mo Hua wrote down one by one, and then said goodbye:

“I’ve made a note of it, and I’ll come back to you after I go back and discuss with my parents to determine how big of a stove to make.”

Master Chen hummed, waved his hand and said, "Go back early, little kid, be careful on the road!"

He didn't pay much attention to what Mo Hua said. There were many monks who asked him to make weapons but didn't respond after asking the price. Most of them said they would go back and think about it and there was no follow-up.

What's more, he is still a child in his teens, and he is still refining a spiritual weapon like a stove, which is time-consuming and labor-intensive. There is probably nothing to accomplish.

 After Mo Hua returned home, he chose a stove that was suitable in size and within his affordability according to the price given by Master Chen. The cost of materials alone was about 150 spirit stones.

There is also the labor cost for refining the weapon, which remains to be discussed.

Mo Hua doesn’t know how long it will take Master Chen to refine this stove. However, by visual inspection it would take ten days and a half, which would be between fifty and seventy-five spiritual stones.

 Some of them are beyond the budget of Mo Hua. When the time comes, you may have to ask your parents for some spiritual stones, or ask someone to borrow some.

 The next most critical thing is the formation.

Mo Hua spread the molten formation diagram on the table and began to study it carefully.

 The Molten Formation contains five fire-based formations. Most of the formations are located away from the fire. Looking at the complex formations alone, they are much more complicated than the Gold-Stone Formation and the Solid-Earth Formation.

 Ink Hua sighed slightly, got rid of distracting thoughts, and began to concentrate on writing down the formation patterns and the sequence of brushwork. I was so focused on studying ink painting that it became dark before I knew it.

Even while eating, Mo Hua was thinking about the patterns of the molten fire array. After chewing the steamed bun for a few times, he became lost in thought and held the steamed bun in his hands in a daze.

Liu Ruhua looked angry and funny. She pinched his cheek and said, "The food should be delicious. You can think about things after eating."

Mo Hua came back to his senses, chuckled, then concentrated on eating, and ran back into the house after eating.

Mo Hua had almost memorized the formation patterns of the Molten Formation, and then spent another hour practicing on the straw paper with ink that did not contain spiritual power. Then he entered the Sea of ​​​​Consciousness at midnight and began to practice the formation on the stone tablet. Law.

Looking at the formation pattern alone, although it is more complicated, the basic structural logic is no different from other formations. It is not difficult to memorize the formation pattern, but the difficulty should be the spiritual consciousness.

 The spiritual consciousness of ink painting may not be able to support him to draw a complete molten formation diagram.

 Ink painting began to draw molten fire formations on the remaining stele.

At first, the three formations went smoothly, but when it came to the fourth formation, it became obviously difficult, and the consciousness gradually became sluggish, and there was a feeling of drying up.

Mo Hua frowned.

By the time the fourth pattern was finished, there was a tingling sensation in the sea of ​​consciousness, as if the riverbed where the tide had receded had begun to have mottled cracks.

Mo Hua quickly stopped and quickly erased the formation patterns on the remaining stele, and the stinging pain in his consciousness was relieved.

Mo Hua collapsed on the ground where the sea of ​​consciousness seemed to be both virtual and real, gasping for air.

 “It’s over, my spiritual consciousness is a bit worse...”

The consciousness of Mo Hua is only enough to draw four formation patterns. After painting four formation patterns, there is no energy left to draw the fifth formation pattern.

It seems that there is only one formation pattern left, but the consciousness cannot be strengthened quickly in the short term. This only one formation pattern may be stuck for a long time.

"How to do it?"

Mo Hua pondered in his mind.

 There is no shortcut to the growth of spiritual consciousness. This is generally accepted knowledge in the cultivation world.

 At least this is recognized by the monks in the Qi Refining Realm of Tongxian City.

Mo Hua asked Yan Jiaoxi for advice, and Yan Jiaoxi also said that most of the growth of spiritual consciousness can only rely on the improvement of cultivation. The higher the level of cultivation, the stronger the spiritual consciousness will naturally be.

 The second step is to enhance spiritual consciousness through the use of spiritual consciousness. The more and more frequently a monk uses spiritual consciousness, the stronger his spiritual consciousness will naturally be. For example, formation masters often need to use their spiritual consciousness frequently to draw formations. Naturally, their spiritual consciousness is much stronger than that of ordinary monks.

Mo Hua once asked if there was any special method for cultivating spiritual consciousness, and Yan Jiaoxi said bluntly that there was no such thing.

 Whether it is ancient books or records of various methods of aristocratic families, there is no safe and reliable method for cultivating spiritual consciousness. Some of them are mostly the skills of evil demons and heretics. Once practiced, they will most likely become demons and become demonic cultivators that everyone can punish.

 Whether it really doesn’t exist or is secretly collected by aristocratic families is unknown.

But even if there were, ink painting would definitely not be available, and even if one could get it, one would not dare to practice it at the risk of going crazy.

Mo Hua is currently at the third level of Qi refining, and will not be able to break through the fourth level in a short period of time. It is impossible to enhance his spiritual consciousness by increasing his cultivation.

There is only one method in front of us:

 Keep drawing formations.

 The method without shortcuts is the best shortcut.

 (End of this chapter)