Asking About Longevity

Chapter 8 An Xiaofu

 “Master An?”

 The fat little man in gorgeous clothes is the eldest young master of the An family in Tongxian City, and his name is An Xiaofu. Maybe his father doesn’t have high expectations for him, and Xiaofu is An, so he gave him such a name.

But because of his rich appearance, his classmates also called him An Xiaopang in private.

An Xiaopang is a bit clumsy, and sometimes has the temper of a young master, but he is not bad-minded, and he often asks Mo Hua to draw formation assessment assignments for him.

He didn't know how to form a formation and couldn't draw anything. He didn't want to be punished by the teacher, and he didn't want to go back and be beaten by his father, so he had no choice but to ask Mo Hua for help.

At this time, An Xiaopang was furious, "What a Mo Hua! I treat you as a friend, but you look down on me?!"

Mo Hua was confused, "Why do I look down on you?"

An Xiaopang took out a formation drawing with ink pen annotations from his arms, "You helped me draw the formation homework, and you made six mistakes! But when you helped Qian Xing, that skinny monkey, there was no mistake at all! Doesn’t this look down on me? Doesn’t this mean that I am inferior to him? "

The thin monkey in An Xiaopang's mouth is the thin young man from before. His surname is Qian Mingxing, and he is the third young master of the Qian family.

The Qian family is the largest family in Tongxian City, followed by the An family. Both families run trading firms. There is competition in business, and there are feuds between the ancestors. The younger generations are also tit-for-tat. They have to compete in every aspect, even in terms of body shape. Once thin, water and fire are incompatible.

However, the two of them are equally lazy and uneducated in their spiritual practice, so they can be regarded as "nearly equal".

Although both of them are playboys, Qian Xing's reputation is worse, because in addition to being uneducated and unskilled, he is arrogant and domineering, and he also does things to bully others. It is said that he has also done many bad things behind his back, but because of the support of his family, In the end it all came to nothing.

 In comparison, An Xiaopang just eats and drinks, shows off and shows off when he has nothing to do, but because his father is strict, he doesn't go too far.

 “So that’s what happened?”

An Xiaopang didn’t take it seriously when he saw the ink painting, and his face turned red.

 “I’m here to help you.” Mo Hua said.

 An Xiaopang looked at Mo Hua with a sneer, "Why did you help me?"

“How does your formation compare with Master Qian?”

 An Xiaopang said confidently: "At least it won't be worse than him!"

 The ink painting is a bit speechless. Is this something to be proud of?

Mo Hua continued: "That's right. With his level, how can he draw the formation well?"

“Of course, I can’t draw it, so of course he can’t draw it either!”

"So you all know, how can you not see it in the teaching? The teaching has always been strict, so he will definitely punish him, and will tell his father about it. His father will lose face, and naturally he will not get any good results from him..."

An Xiaopang pondered for a moment, "It seems to make sense, but I haven't heard of Fatty Qian being beaten. Are you lying to me..."

Mo Hua rolled his eyes at him and said, "Family scandals should not be made public. If a father beats his son, he will definitely do it behind closed doors. How can I let you know about it?"

An Xiaopang nodded with lingering fear, "You're right, my father never lets others know when he beats me!"

Mo Hua asked again: "Did Mr. An not only not hit you this time, but also praise you?"

 An Xiaopang instantly became proud, "Yes, the instructor gave me a B grade. When my father found out, he praised me for my progress and gave me a lot of good things!"

An Xiaopang’s temper came and went quickly. He immediately stopped being angry and felt a little guilty. He said to Mo Hua:

"I wrongly blamed you! I invited you to eat delicious food at Lingshan Tower. It's a restaurant owned by my family. You can eat whatever you want!"

Mo Hua did not expect An Xiaopang to be unexpectedly generous, but he still resisted and said: "No need, I still have things to do."

An Xiaopang said dissatisfied: "My father always teaches me that I must repay kindness. If you don't go, you are looking down on me!"

Thinking of the red and swollen buttocks that were beaten by his father, An Xiaopang said more firmly: "This is not a small favor, you must go!"

 The little fat kid An is a bit difficult to deal with when his temper gets angry.

Mo Hua had a headache. He looked at the door of the formation pavilion and suddenly said: "Master An, I won't be eating at Lingshan Tower, but I have a favor. Can you help me?"

 An Xiaopang patted his chest, "Say it!"

 “Lend me ten spiritual stones.”

Fatty An frowned. He really didn’t have ten spirit stones. In order to prevent him from spending spirit stones randomly outside, Master An never let him carry more than five spirit stones with him. He invited Mo Hua to eat at the Lingshan Restaurant. He could charge it to his father's account. It was just for food and drink, but if it went out of the account, his father would know better and wouldn't say anything. What his father was afraid of was that he had spent his spiritual stones on some crooked ways. There were no accounts to check, and his father didn't know. If he didn't pay attention, he would be in big trouble.

Fatty An took out the five spiritual stones from his body, looked at the boy next to him, and said, "Give me all the spiritual stones, and I'll give them to you when I get home."

The boy was a little reluctant, but he still took out the spiritual stones, and he just collected ten spiritual stones.

 An Xiaopang handed the spirit stone to Mo Hua, "I gave it to you, you don't have to pay it back!"

Mo Hua shook his head and said, "I will pay you back in a few days."

Mo Hua weighed the spirit stone in his hand a few times, then carefully put it away. After saying goodbye to Xiaopang An, he returned to the Zhen Pavilion. There were still no customers in the Zhen Pavilion and the steward was still dozing off.

After Mo Hua entered the door, he stood on tiptoe and placed ten spiritual stones on the counter.

 “I brought the spirit stone!”

Not long after the steward fell asleep, he heard the bell again and saw the ink painting and ten spiritual stones on the table.

The steward picked up the spirit stone, looked at it carefully, and found that there was nothing wrong with the quality. He nodded, then reached under the counter and took out a storage bag.

"There is a diagram of the "Open Fire Formation" in it, as well as ten sets of formation paper and spiritual ink, which is enough to draw ten sets of open fire formations. This order is valid for ten days, and the entire deposit will be deducted if it is overdue. Each time a set of open fire formations is drawn, You can get a spirit stone. If you make a mistake or fail to meet the standards, a deposit of one spirit stone will be deducted. These rules are common to all trading houses, and your brother should know them."

Mo Hua nodded.

If all of these formations are successful, you can earn ten spirit stones. If they all fail, you will lose ten spirit stones. If you succeed more than 50%, you will earn.

The steward warned again, "The deadline is ten days. Don't forget. If it's overdue, I will deduct the entire deposit."

Mo Hua nodded quickly, thanked the steward and left.

 After Mo Hua got home, he locked himself in the room and quietly pondered the formation.

The income from up to ten spirit stones is already very considerable. Even though Mo Hua Gang's fellow students earned twelve spirit stones from their formation drawing work, they could not earn more than a few times a year.

And writing formation homework for fellow students is not serious after all.

 It’s okay to do it occasionally, but over time, it will delay the progress of fellow students.

The situation is different here in the trading company. If you do it well, you can earn spiritual stones for a long time, and you can also practice formations. It can be said that you kill two birds with one stone.

Mo Hua spread the formation diagram of "Open Fire Formation" in front of him.

 The formation diagram is drawn in advance by other formation masters and can be used as a template.

 The formation diagram is also followed by an illustration of the formation, recording the formation pattern, pen, ink and other attention points of the formation. It is a common pattern used in the monastic world to record the formation.

 The illustrations of "Open Fire Array" record the relevant understanding of the open fire array, where to use fire array patterns, how to connect the array patterns, the mixing of ink and the proportion of ink used, etc. Many of the conceptual ink paintings look relatively unfamiliar and are a bit difficult to understand.

This is the first time Mo Hua has seen a formal diagram of formations. The ones he learned in the sect before were all the simplest formations - although they are formations, most of them only contain one or two basic formation patterns for disciples to learn. It is different from the formations used by beginners, and the formations that are truly commonly used in the cultivation world.

There is a line at the end of the illustration of "Open Fire Array":

Open fire formation, a fire-based formation, contains three formation patterns and requires at least three levels of Qi refining.

  But what concerned the ink painting the most was the line of small handwritten characters behind the mark:

Those who have not reached the realm have insufficient spiritual awareness, so study with caution!

There were only ink paintings on the second level of Qi Refining, and he couldn't help but frown.

Any behavior of the monk needs to be conscious, guide the aura, drives spiritual power, use spells, manipulate spiritual tools, alchemy and alchemy, etc., must be conscious.

 Among them, drawing formations consumes the most spiritual consciousness. This is a well-known fact among monks. But here it is specifically marked "Insufficient spiritual knowledge, study with caution", and it also limits the realm, and uses vermilion ink.

This made Mo Hua realize that he might not realize how much more this "more" would be...

“Does it really take a lot of spiritual consciousness to draw a formation?”

Mo Hua held his small chin in thought.

“Forget it, let’s get familiar with the formation patterns first and then practice on the tablet at night.”

I wrote down the pattern of the open fire formation in ink. After having dinner with my parents, I practiced it several times with ordinary paper and ink after returning to the house to become familiar with the pattern. When it was midnight, I lay down on the bed. When I closed my eyes, the simple and empty remnants of the monument floated in the sea of ​​​​consciousness.

 (End of this chapter)