Chapter 9: The Bright Fire Formation

In Mo Hua’s sea of consciousness, his form appeared the same as his physical body, moving freely. However, it wasn’t made of flesh and blood, nor even spiritual energy, but rather a mere projection of his spiritual consciousness. With intense focus, Mo Hua’s spiritual projection used his finger as a brush, drawing the patterns of the Bright Fire Formation onto the Dao Stele. Faint blue lines flowed smoothly with the movements of his finger, gradually appearing on the pitch-black surface of the stele. The simple lines began to connect into a complex, intricate formation pattern. After completing the second pattern, Mo Hua began to feel an unfamiliar fatigue, even pain, as he tried to continue. It was as if someone had opened a dam inside his sea of consciousness, causing his spiritual power to gush out uncontrollably like a receding tide. The more spiritual power drained from his consciousness, the closer it came to exhaustion, like a riverbed cracking and drying under pressure, causing an unbearable prickling pain that even made his scalp tingle. Mo Hua’s thoughts began to slow, and the third pattern took longer to draw. Suddenly, a sharp pain, like being stabbed by needles, shot through his sea of consciousness. Distracted by the pain, Mo Hua lost his focus, and his pattern on the stele became flawed. He had no choice but to stop, clutching his head, waiting for the pain to subside. It took the time of a full cup of tea for the pain to ease. Reflecting on what had happened, Mo Hua finally realized: “Drawing formations consumes a massive amount of spiritual power, far more than any other form of cultivation! And much more than I ever expected!” “That’s why the instructions specifically highlighted in red to ‘practice with caution if one’s cultivation level is insufficient.’ If someone with insufficient cultivation and weak spiritual awareness tries to forcefully draw a formation, they’ll overextend their spiritual power to dangerous levels…” When a cultivator’s spiritual power is depleted, it causes intense pain and can even damage the sea of consciousness, causing it to crack. If the cracks become too severe, the sea of consciousness could shatter, leading to death and the dissolution of the soul. This was something Mo Hua had heard from his teacher in the formations class, but at the time, he hadn’t paid much attention. Now, recalling it, he felt a creeping fear in his heart. “The Bright Fire Formation requires the third level of Qi Refining, but I’m only at the second level. My spiritual power is indeed a bit lacking…” Mo Hua, lying on the ground in his sea of consciousness, cradled his head, pondering: “It’s not like I’m that far off, though. My spiritual awareness is a bit stronger than most, and I’ve studied formations for a while. If I practice more, I might still be able to draw it.” “If I can’t finish it in one attempt, I’ll try again, and again… Each time, my spiritual power grows a little stronger. Even if it’s just one more stroke than before, eventually, I’ll complete the formation.” After deliberating, Mo Hua got up and wiped away the incomplete patterns from the Dao Stele. Instantly, his spiritual power was replenished. It was as though he had never drawn anything at all, yet every stroke remained etched in his mind. Mo Hua couldn’t help but marvel. Thankfully, he had the Dao Stele. Without it, if his spiritual power got too close to exhaustion, who knows how long he would have needed to rest before attempting again. By then, perhaps ten or fifteen days would have passed, and the deposit on the spirit stones would be lost. The thought of this made Mo Hua’s heart tighten, causing him to focus even more as he began drawing the Bright Fire Formation again… In the ethereal space of his sea of consciousness, there was no sense of time passing. Mo Hua drew, paused, rested, and when he couldn’t continue any longer, he wiped it away and started over. After many attempts, he finally completed a full Bright Fire Formation. Mo Hua let out a long breath, collapsing on the ground, feeling like a wrung-out cloth, his spiritual power completely drained. After resting for the time of half a cup of tea, he mustered the energy to stand and admire his first completed formation—the Bright Fire Formation. On the pitch-black Dao Stele, a full formation of faint blue lines glowed softly. The patterns were precise and elegant, exuding an aura of mystery. The alternating light and dark lines seemed to contain an indescribable power and hidden rules. So this is a formation! Mo Hua was entranced, feeling that there was nothing more beautiful in the world than these intricate lines embodying the laws of the universe. Just looking at them drew him deeper into their mystery… But as he gazed at it, he suddenly noticed something wrong. The lines he had drawn, which were a faint blue at first, were now fading, their color gradually dimming until they turned a pale gray. It was as though… the Dao Stele was telling him he had made a mistake. Mo Hua froze. “I made a mistake?” “No way…” Disheartened, he quickly shook off the gloom, forced himself to focus, and carefully reviewed each line of the formation. Eventually, he found that he had indeed made several mistakes. In some places, he had drawn an extra line. In others, the angles of the connections were wrong, and in a few spots, the fusion of fire patterns had failed. Because of these mistakes, the formation hadn’t consumed as much spiritual power as it should have, allowing him to finish it. Scratching his head in frustration, Mo Hua carefully noted all the errors before erasing the formation and starting over again. After many more repetitions, Mo Hua was left dizzy, his sea of consciousness throbbing with pain, his senses numb. The patterns on the Dao Stele started to blur before his eyes. He wasn’t sure when, but at some point, he finally drew the last line. The Dao Stele seemed to tremble slightly, and the faint blue lines of the formation began to emit a gentle white light. Within the white glow, tiny flames flickered, like candlelight in the dark. The Bright Fire Formation! Mo Hua couldn’t contain his excitement. All the fatigue from the night vanished in an instant. For the first time in his life, Mo Hua felt the true power of a cultivator—the ability to comprehend something, create it with his own hands, and through formation, control the laws of the world and harness its power. It was a small step, a tiny glimpse of power, but it was like the first drop of water in a vast river that would one day flow into the great Dao! Mo Hua felt immensely proud. Though the Bright Fire Formation was merely a simple illumination technique, one of the most common and cheapest formations in cultivation, it had illuminated the first step of Mo Hua’s path as a cultivator. Full of excitement, Mo Hua wanted to draw the formation again immediately. But he knew that his spiritual power was already like a flickering candle in the wind, and pushing further would be reckless. If he continued now, his sea of consciousness might not reach exhaustion, but his mind would likely unravel. After all, even though spiritual power could recover, the process of drawing a formation constantly drained it, and the experience was anything but pleasant. This was Mo Hua’s first time drawing a full formation, but it certainly wouldn’t be his last. He planned to practice the Bright Fire Formation a few times each night. Once he was fully proficient, he would use the materials from the formation shop to draw the formation properly, exchange them for spirit stones, and hopefully save enough for his sect’s tuition fees. That way, his parents wouldn’t have to work so hard. “That’s enough for tonight…” Mo Hua glanced at the Bright Fire Formation glowing brilliantly on the Dao Stele, admiring it for a moment longer before reluctantly wiping it away. As soon as the formation vanished, his spiritual power surged back, like the ebb and flow of the tides, instantly replenishing his sea of consciousness. Standing before the Dao Stele, his spiritual power fully restored, Mo Hua felt just as he had when he first entered his sea of consciousness earlier that night. This cycle of draining and replenishing spiritual power, no matter how many times he experienced it, always felt profoundly mysterious. But this time, the experience was even more intense than ever before. Looking at the Dao Stele, its surface deep and dark, it seemed both empty and all-encompassing at once. Though it appeared void, it hinted at infinite potential, able to reveal everything. Transforming spiritual power into formations, then reversing formations back into spiritual power—a cycle of creation and dissolution, where existence and non-existence give rise to each other. In Mo Hua’s mind, a line from an ancient text surfaced: “What exists brings benefit, but what does not exist gives it use.”