In his Sea of Consciousness, Mo Hua's figure looked the same as his Physical Body externally, able to move as he pleased, but it was not made of flesh and blood, nor even spiritual energy; it was merely a phantom of his Divine Sense.
Mo Hua's phantom held his breath and concentrated, using his finger as a brush to draw the Array Runes of the Ming Fire Array on the dao tablet.
Pale blue lines gracefully flowed with Mo Hua's finger, gradually appearing on the dark black dao tablet, connecting thread by thread, from simple to complex, forming mysterious patterns.
After completing the second Array Rune, as he continued drawing, Mo Hua gradually felt an unprecedented exhaustion and even pain.
His Sea of Consciousness was like a dam that had been breached, with his Divine Sense flowing out continuously like a tide.
The more Divine Sense flowed out, the closer his Sea of Consciousness came to exhaustion, like a riverbed drying up after the water receded, gradually cracking and producing a stinging sensation from an unknown pressure, his scalp also faintly tingling.
Mo Hua also gradually felt his thoughts stagnate, and the third Array Rune was drawn slower and slower.
Suddenly, a needle-like pain came from his Sea of Consciousness, causing Mo Hua to momentarily lose focus and make a mistake in the Array Runes on the tablet.
Mo Hua had no choice but to stop, clutching his head, waiting for the pain to slowly subside.
It took a full quarter of an hour for Mo Hua to recover. After pondering for a moment, he finally understood:
"Cultivators drawing Formations require a tremendous amount of Divine Sense, far more than other branches of The Dao of Mending! And far more than I thought!"
"That's why the diagrams specifically used red ink to note that those with insufficient Realm should be cautious. If one's Realm is not high enough and Divine Sense is not strong, forcefully drawing Formations will excessively deplete Divine Sense, even leading to Divine Sense exhaustion..."
Divine Sense exhaustion brings intense pain to Cultivators and can even cause the Sea of Consciousness to be damaged and crack. Once it cracks excessively, the Sea of Consciousness will directly shatter, and the Cultivator will die as a result.
This was something the Instructor in the Formation class had mentioned, but Mo Hua hadn't paid much attention when he heard it. Now, recalling it, a chill ran down his spine.
"The Ming Fire Array requires Qi Refining Third Level, but I'm only at Qi Refining Second Level, so my Divine Sense is indeed a bit lacking..."
Mo Hua held his head in his hands, lying on the ground of his Sea of Consciousness, slowly pondering:
"Although it's a bit lacking, it shouldn't be too much. My Divine Sense is inherently stronger than others, and I've studied Formations for so long. If I practice a few more times, I might be able to draw it."
"If I can't draw it once, I'll draw it a second time, a third time... Each time my Divine Sense strengthens a bit, each time I draw even one more stroke than before, I'll eventually be able to draw the Formation..."
After pondering, Mo Hua got up and erased the incomplete Array Runes on the dao tablet, and then his Divine Sense became full again.
It was as if he had never drawn a Formation, yet every stroke he had just made was etched in Mo Hua's mind.
Mo Hua couldn't help but sigh with emotion.
Thankfully, he had this dao tablet. Otherwise, with his Divine Sense nearly exhausted, he didn't know how long he would have to rest before he could draw it a second time. By the time he learned the Ming Fire Array, probably ten days to half a month would have passed, and if it exceeded ten days, the Spirit Stone he mortgaged would be completely deducted.
At the thought of this, Mo Hua felt a pang in his heart, and his Divine Sense became even more concentrated as he began to draw the Ming Fire Array for the second time...
In the vast, white Sea of Consciousness, the passage of time was imperceptible.
Mo Hua drew for a while, stopped for a while, rested for a while. When he really couldn't continue, he simply erased it and started over.
He didn't know how many times he had drawn it, but finally, he completed the full Formation of the Ming Fire Array.
Mo Hua let out a long sigh of relief, his limbs sprawled on the ground, feeling like a small salted fish whose Divine Sense had been squeezed dry.
After resting for another half a quarter of an hour, Mo Hua finally had the presence of mind to stand up and admire the first Formation he had ever drawn—the Ming Fire Array.
On the dark dao tablet, a complete Formation of pale blue patterns was drawn. The Formation patterns were precise and elegant, possessing an unknown sense of mystery. As the Array Runes brightened and dimmed, they seemed to contain unutterable rules and power.
This was a Formation!
Mo Hua felt a sense of daze, as if there was nothing more beautiful in the world than these patterns containing rules. Even just looking at them made one involuntarily immerse themselves in them...
As Mo Hua continued to look, he suddenly realized something was amiss.
When he was drawing, the Array Runes were pale blue, but now they seemed to be gradually fading, and their color was dull, slowly turning light gray.
It was as if... the dao tablet was telling Mo Hua that he had drawn it incorrectly...
Mo Hua froze.
"Drew it wrong?"
"No way..."
Mo Hua was a little disheartened, but he still rallied his spirits and meticulously checked it stroke by stroke. In the end, he found that he had indeed drawn it incorrectly, and in more than one place.
In some places, an extra stroke was added to the Array Runes, in others, the connecting angle was wrong, and in still others, the Fusion of two fire patterns was incorrect...
Because he had drawn it incorrectly, less Divine Sense was consumed, which was why he was able to complete the Ming Fire Array.
Mo Hua scratched his head, making sure to note down the errors, then erased the Formation again and redrew it.
...
After drawing it repeatedly many times, Mo Hua felt dizzy and lightheaded. Besides the pain in his Sea of Consciousness, there was also a numbness, and the Array Runes on the dao tablet appeared blurry and doubled.
At some unknown point, Mo Hua, in a muddled state, completed the final stroke.
The dao tablet seemed to tremble slightly, and the pale blue Array Runes on it emitted a warm white light. Within the white light, a faint flicker of fire seemed to dance, like the illuminating flame of a candle in the dark night.
Ming Fire Array!
Mo Hua couldn't hide his excitement; all the fatigue of the night was swept away.
For the first time in his life, Mo Hua personally felt the ability of a Cultivator—that feeling of understanding something himself, then creating it, embodying the rules of the Heavenly Dao through a Formation, and mastering the power of heaven and earth.
Although it was just a tiny step, a minuscule bit of power, it was the first drop of water that would form the great river of the Dao!
Mo Hua was very proud. Although the Ming Fire Array could only be used for illumination and was one of the most common and cheapest Formations in The Dao of Mending, at least this Formation illuminated Mo Hua's first step on the path of The Dao of Mending.
Mo Hua, still wanting more, wished he could draw it a few more times, but he also knew that his weak Divine Sense was like a flickering candle in the wind, unable to withstand any more torment.
If he continued drawing, his Sea of Consciousness might not necessarily be exhausted, but he would definitely go mad.
After all, although Divine Sense recovers, during the process of drawing Formations, Divine Sense is continuously depleted, and this process is not very comfortable.
This was Mo Hua's first time drawing a formal Formation, but it certainly wouldn't be his last.
He planned to practice the Ming Fire Array a few times every night. After he was completely proficient in a few days, he would start using the Materials from the Array Pavilion to draw Formations. After drawing them, he would find the steward to exchange them for Spirit Stones, hoping to gather enough for the Sect's tuition fees so his parents wouldn't have to work so hard.
"That's enough for tonight..."
The Ming Fire Array on the dao tablet glowed brightly. Mo Hua admired it again, involuntarily nodding, then somewhat reluctantly waved his hand to erase the Formation.
At the moment of erasure, Divine Sense was like the ebb and flow of tides, the waxing and waning of the moon, like a sea bursting its banks and then receding, or the sun setting and then rising again. The depleted Divine Sense instantly flowed back, filling Mo Hua's Sea of Consciousness!
Mo Hua stood before the dao tablet, his Divine Sense full, just as it had been several hours ago when he first entered his Sea of Consciousness.
This experience of Divine Sense going from full to depleted, and then from depleted to full, no matter how many times he experienced it, still felt extraordinarily profound.
Mo Hua looked at the dao tablet. Its surface was dark and profound, seemingly a void, yet it seemed to contain everything; seemingly nothing, yet it seemed to be able to manifest everything.
Transforming Divine Sense into a Formation, and reversing a Formation into Divine Sense, existence and non-existence give birth to each other and transform into each other.
A line from an ancient text involuntarily surfaced in Mo Hua's mind:
"What exists is for benefit, what does not exist is for use!"