From their interactions, Ouyang Mu had come to understand the principle behind Mo Hua’s Sword Control. He found it both clever and a little "unfair."
Yet, he couldn’t deny that this method of Sword Control, especially in the hands of the unpredictable Brother Mo, was terrifying in its potency.
Ouyang Mu remarked, "The power of this Sword Control fundamentally hinges on the strength of the sword array. The stronger the sword array, the more powerful the Sword Control."
"By the way, Brother Mo," Ouyang Mu asked suddenly, "Is your family’s sword array limited to the Gold-series Sword Array?"
"Family’s sword array?" Mo Hua was momentarily confused.
Ouyang Mu replied, "Didn’t you say so yourself?"
"Oh, right..."
Mo Hua had almost forgotten.
He had told Little Wood that the "Gold-Cutting Sword Formation" on his sword was a family-inherited Gold-series Sword Array.
Little Wood, being kind-hearted, had believed him without question.
"Yes, that’s correct; it’s inherited from my family."
Mo Hua emphasized again, then shook his head and said, "Our family only passed down this one array; for now, we don’t have any others."
Whether his family would "pass down" more in the future depended on what other sects or families might offer to him.
Ouyang Mu felt a bit regretful and said, "If there were other sword arrays, we could try experimenting with multi-attribute, multi-form spirit swords."
Mo Hua sighed lightly.
Indeed...
Suddenly, his eyes gleamed as he asked, "What if we didn’t use a sword array?"
"Not use a sword array?"
"What about other formations, like Killing Formations?" Mo Hua suggested.
Ouyang Mu shook his head, "That won’t work. Not all formations can be casually embedded into swords."
"Sword arrays are special. Although I’m not deeply knowledgeable about formations, from a Sword-Casting standpoint, sword arrays have the highest compatibility with sword weapons."
"Sword weapons can also maximize the power of sword arrays."
"Other formations have lower adaptability to spirit swords, and the power they can unleash through Sword Control is minimal."
"If you really want to use them, the formation would have to be converted into a sword array first..."
Mo Hua froze for a moment upon hearing this, then exclaimed in astonishment:
"Converted into a sword array? Formations can also be converted into sword arrays?!"
Ouyang Mu, caught off guard by Mo Hua’s question, suddenly felt uncertain and hesitant.
Knowing that Mo Hua was an esteemed Formation Master, Ouyang became even more cautious in his response:
"I’m not actually sure..."
Ouyang Mu whispered, "This was something I overheard while chatting with my father and the Chief Elder of our sect. Whether it’s true or not, or if there were any errors, I don’t really know."
"It’s also possible that I misheard..."
Mo Hua’s eyes narrowed slightly as he sank into deep thought.
Little Wood wasn’t the type to lie.
That statement... might hold some truth.
When he had crafted sword arrays before, Mo Hua hadn’t considered this possibility, but now it struck him:
The sword patterns in the Gold-Cutting Sword Formation of Sever Gold Sect resembled certain variant Gold-series formation patterns.
Sword patterns were variant formation patterns.
Sword arrays were variant formations!
This made perfect sense...
Previously, Mo Hua had been puzzled about why Elder Master Xun’s categorization of formations, spanning from Yin-Yang and Eryi to Three Talents, Four Symbols, Seven Stars, and Eight Trigrams, didn’t include sword arrays.
Sword arrays were a unique category of formations, but clearly, they didn’t fall under any of the traditional classifications from Eryi to Eight Trigrams.
If sword arrays were "variant" formations, it would all add up.
These variant formations would not conflict with the broader categories of formations but rather intertwine with them.
Theoretically, any formation from Eryi to Eight Trigrams could be converted into a sword array through specific formation pattern variations.
The Earth Fire Formation could be converted into the Earth Fire Sword Array.
The Di Sha Formation could be converted into the Di Sha Sword Array.
...
However, while this sounded simple in theory, researching it in practice would undoubtedly be an immense challenge, fraught with difficulties.
Otherwise, sword arrays wouldn’t remain as the core secret inheritance of sword-dao families.
Based on Mo Hua’s formation expertise, standard pattern transformations to convert formation patterns into "sword patterns" would surely involve the most profound and complex principles of formations.
"What kind of formation principles would it involve?"
Mo Hua racked his brain, searching for an answer, and suddenly thought of a term:
Formation Flows!
"Sword Dao Formation Flows?"
Formation Flows dealt with the origins of formations, approaching their very essence.
To comprehend the origin of the Great Dao and master a certain "Sword Dao Formation Flow" might allow one to convert elemental formations into "sword arrays" through formation pattern transformations.
Mo Hua’s heart trembled.
If this hypothesis proved correct, then...
Mo Hua’s thoughts churned rapidly as he continued his deductions:
If he applied the principles of the Reversed Spirit Formation or Spiritual Power Fusion into a formation, and then, through Sword Dao Formation Flows, conducted formation pattern transformations to convert them into sword arrays...
Wouldn’t that result in...
The Spiritual Power Dissolution Sword Array and the Spiritual Power Convergence Sword Array?!