The Quest for Immortality - Chapter 178

Chapter 178: Limits

Mo Hua, after planning the array for the Artifact Crafting Shop's construction, checked everything over and found no major issues.

All the basic functions were in place, and since the arrays were relatively independent, their interconnection wasn't significant; at least there shouldn't be any issues with their application.

However, Mo Hua still felt a bit uneasy.

The construction of the Artifact Crafting Shop was a major matter, affecting the lives and cultivation of wandering cultivators for ten, twenty years, or even longer, without any room for error.

Since he wasn't completely sure, it was best to consult Mr. Zhuang.

Mo Hua went to the Sit and Forget Abode and showed Mr. Zhuang the architectural array diagram he had drawn.

Mr. Zhuang glanced at the densely packed array diagram, his eyelids twitched, but seeing that it was just a simple arrangement of single and composite arrays, each independent, he breathed a sigh of relief.

“Sir, is there something wrong?” Mo Hua asked.

Mr. Zhuang shook his head slightly, “It's okay.”

“Can it be used?”

“It's sufficient,” Mr. Zhuang said, then took out a few diagrams and handed them to Mo Hua, “These are also simple architectural array diagrams; you can refer to them.”

Mo Hua eagerly took them and had a quick look.

The arrays on the architectural diagrams were as expected, primarily Earth-Wood Arrays. The single arrays ranged from five-pattern to nine-pattern, and there were some first-grade composite arrays, but none were particularly difficult, still within Mo Hua’s grasp.

Although these architectural diagrams primarily used Earth-Wood Arrays, they also included other Five Elements Arrays, with many detailed differences.

For instance, how to solidify earth and stone with Metal-Based Arrays, how to nourish earth and wood with Water Arrays, and how to ensure heating and lighting in the buildings with Fire Arrays.

The frameworks were similar, but the details contained many aspects worth pondering.

As Mo Hua studied, he became engrossed. When he snapped out of it, he found that Mr. Zhuang was already lying on a chair, leisurely resting with his eyes closed.

Mo Hua scratched his head in embarrassment.

Mr. Zhuang opened his eyes and asked with a smile, “How is it?”

Mo Hua thought for a moment and said, “The diagrams you gave me, sir, look simple, but the interrelationships and nuances of various arrays are intricate, and I didn't fully understand them right away.”

Mr. Zhuang nodded, “Not bad. In Daoism, once multiple arrays are involved, the planning, coordination, and relationships of mutual promotion and restraint need to be carefully considered... It's commendable that you noticed these aspects on your first look.”

Mo Hua smiled happily, then pondered and asked, “Sir, although the arrays on these architectural diagrams are independently coordinated, wouldn't linking these arrays together make the overall array more powerful?”

Mr. Zhuang showed a meaningful smile, “How would you link them?”

Mo Hua furrowed his brow in thought for a moment, then tentatively said, “…Using an array hub?”

“And if you link them with an array hub, what do you get?” Mr. Zhuang asked again.

Mo Hua imagined it: linking single arrays creates a composite array, linking so many single arrays together would result in…

“A large composite array?”

Mo Hua looked at Mr. Zhuang.

“You can simplify it,” Mr. Zhuang's gaze was profound, “A large composite array is actually called a ‘Great Array’.”

A Great Array!

Mo Hua's heart skipped a beat.

The kind of array that countless array masters dreamed of, even in their sleep?

The grandest in the cultivation world, with the most intricate patterns and the strongest effects?

Mo Hua couldn't help but ask, “Can I draw one?”

Mr. Zhuang extended his long, white fingers and gently knocked on Mo Hua's little head.

“Don't aim too high. You haven't even mastered composite arrays yet; don’t think about Great Arrays.”

Mo Hua covered his head and laughed, “Yes, sir.”

However, he still cared, so he quietly asked, “Sir, why are Great Arrays so difficult?”

Mr. Zhuang shook his head slightly, with a touch of helplessness, “The difficulty lies in the array hub.”

“The array hub?”

Mr. Zhuang asked, “Is the hub of a composite array difficult?”

Mo Hua nodded, “It is.”

Mr. Zhuang said blandly, “A composite array only links a few single arrays, and its hub is not easy to learn, whereas the hub of a Great Array connects hundreds or even thousands of single arrays.”

Mo Hua was stunned, hundreds or even thousands?

There wouldn't be enough spiritual awareness in the sea of consciousness to handle that.

Even if you exhausted all your spiritual awareness and ground the sea of consciousness into powder, you couldn’t squeeze out that much.

Mr. Zhuang said, “Therefore, a first-grade Great Array is not something a first-grade array master can draw. Typically, only second-grade array masters can learn and lead the drawing of a first-grade Great Array.”

“Lead array master?” Mo Hua asked in confusion.

Mr. Zhuang explained, “An array master who plans a first-grade Great Array and can draw the array hub is called a lead array master.”

“Why not draw it all by oneself? Why distinguish between lead and others?”

Mr. Zhuang laughed, “The scale of a Great Array is immense, with intricate patterns. Drawing it alone would exhaust you to death. So, a Great Array is usually planned by a lead array master, who personally draws the hub, and other array masters follow the lead master’s diagram to draw the specific single arrays on the hub structure.”

“Oh, I see,” Mo Hua understood.

A fence needs three stakes, a good man needs three helpers.

Given the immense scale of a Great Array, it cannot be drawn by one person alone; it requires many array masters working together to construct it.

Such a vast and intricate project must be of great importance, crucial to a family, a sect, or even a city or a realm.

No wonder many array masters pursue Great Arrays as a lifelong goal.

Mo Hua then thought of the most crucial question: “Building a Great Array must cost a lot of spirit stones…”

Mr. Zhuang pondered briefly and said, “Although it is a Great Array, its scale varies. A smaller one doesn’t require too many spirit stones.”

Mo Hua asked weakly, “How many spirit stones would a smaller one need…”

Mr. Zhuang, with an amused expression, smiled, “Didn’t you guys dig up a spirit mine? Using all the spirit stones from there, you could build a small Great Array. Provided the array masters, craftsmen, and artifact refiners work for free and excluding the spirit stones needed to activate the array.”

Mo Hua was dumbfounded.

An entire spirit mine, so many spirit stones, only enough to build a small Great Array.

If you include the wages and the spirit stones to activate the array, it’s far from enough…

After all, array masters capable of planning and leading the drawing of a first-grade Great Array are usually second-grade array masters, not easy to hire.

Thinking of so many spirit stones, Mo Hua couldn't help but gasp.

How deep must one’s resources be to construct a first-grade Great Array? No wonder there isn’t a single Great Array in the entire Tongxian City.

Mo Hua gave up; even if he could draw a Great Array, he wouldn’t have enough spirit stones to construct it.

Still curious, Mo Hua asked, “Can’t a first-grade array master lead the drawing of a first-grade Great Array?”

“Generally, no.”

“What about exceptions?”

Mr. Zhuang looked at Mo Hua, his gaze slightly condensed, and slowly said:

“An exception would mean breaking through the limits of spiritual awareness.”

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