“Great! This fire is excellent! The intensity of the fire from this furnace is almost on par with the large-sized Refining Furnaces.”
Mo Hua also let out a sigh of relief. Although he was confident, he still feared something unexpected happening. If he really damaged Master Chen’s Refining Furnace, that wouldn’t be good.
“Then, Master Chen, I’ll head back now.”
“As for the Spirit Stones for the Formation Painting…”
Mo Hua waved his hand, “We agreed I’d do it for free, don’t worry about the Spirit Stones.”
Master Chen still felt uncomfortable, so he gave Mo Hua all the leftover Spiritual Ink from the Melting Fire Formation drawing, along with several Formation Pens, firmly pushing them into Mo Hua’s hands.
The Formation Pens were brand new, likely made upon someone else’s request for Master Chen’s help, and were better than what Mo Hua used. Needless to say, the Spiritual Ink was even more impressive; Mo Hua, who was longing for high-quality ink, didn’t hesitate to accept them.
Mo Hua politely refused a few times symbolically, then gladly accepted them.
Master Chen added, “If you ever need to refine any Spiritual Artifacts, just come to me. As long as they aren’t particularly large items, I won’t charge you Spirit Stones.”
This promise was quite valuable.
“Thank you, Uncle Chen!”
Mo Hua happily headed home, thinking about which Spiritual Artifacts he might need in the future so he could ask Master Chen for help in refining them.
After Mo Hua had walked a distance, Dazhu quietly asked his master, “Master, is it really enough to give him just these things? If we had asked Master Jia to draw the formation, it would have cost a lot of Spirit Stones!”
Master Chen replied annoyedly, “I’d like to give more, but where would I find the Spirit Stones?”
“The settlement for the Spiritual Artifacts from the Shen Family hasn’t been completed, we need Spirit Stones for fueling the Refining Furnace, buying refined iron for artifacts also costs Spirit Stones, and you bunch of kids need Spirit Stones even for eating. Not enough to go around even if you split a Spirit Stone into ten pieces, so I have no choice but to shamelessly take a little advantage of the kid.”
Dazhu didn’t dare speak further, worried about upsetting his master.
Master Chen stood up, paced for a moment, and then looking back at the fire, he said with a determined bite of his teeth:
“Bring me that box of century-old Water Poria. Let’s send it to Mo Hua; I heard his mother isn’t well, suffering from internal heat, and this medicine will be just right for her.”
“But wasn’t that box of Water Poria meant for Formation Master Jia? If we give it to Mo Hua, what are we going to do about Master Jia?”
“Forget him. When it’s time to give gifts, he’s all smiles, but when you ask him to draw Formation, he’s arrogant, and he doesn’t miss a single Spirit Stone. Hungry for so much, he won’t choke.”
“If we stop giving gifts, he won’t be happy, and I’m afraid he won’t draw Formations for us anymore,” Dazhu voiced his concern.
“It doesn’t matter, we have Mo Hua now, don’t we?”
“To keep asking Mo Hua to draw Formations without ever giving Spirit Stones, isn’t that a bit improper…?”
Master Chen shot Dazhu a glare, “Is that the kind of person your master is? We simply don’t have Spirit Stones right now, but we’ll of course give some once we have them, won’t we?”
“That’s good, that’s good,” Dazhu nodded, but then hesitantly added:
“But I heard that Formation Master Jia might reach assessment in a few years, becoming a first-grade Formation Master… If we offend him, won’t that cause trouble?”
Master Chen scoffed disdainfully, “Assessment isn’t that easy; he’s simply bluffing people who don’t understand Formations, talking nonsense. When it comes down to actually Drawing Formations, he’s not as efficient as that little kid, Mo Hua. By the time Mo Hua reaches assessment, he probably won’t have made it yet.”
“Impossible. Mo Hua is only at the third level of Qi Refinement; assessment would take forever to reach.”
“Nonsense. Just take it if I tell you to, your master knows what he’s doing.”
Dazhu weighed it in his mind and decided he preferred giving gifts to Mo Hua rather than Formation Master Jia.
“I’ll go over in a bit.”
“What are you waiting for?” Master Chen asked in confusion.
Dazhu scratched his head, “If I go later, I can grab a meal. Aunt Liu’s cooking is too delicious to miss.”
Master Chen: