Chapter 12 Remuneration

After walking around for a while, Xiaohu suddenly asked, "Where are we going next?"

Mo Hua patted the storage bag on his body, "Let's go to North Street first!"

Several people came to the door of Youyuanzhai on North Street. Mo Hua stepped on the steps in front of the door, but turned back to see three friends standing still. He couldn't help asking, "Aren't you going to come in?"

The three friends shook their heads:

"I feel dizzy when I see the formation..."

"Me too..."

"I have no chance to be with the formation in this life, and I won't go in..."

Mo Hua had no choice but to say, "Then you wait here for a while, I'll come out soon."

The three friends nodded in unison.

Mo Hua entered the door, and the bell on the eaves of the door rang. The steward followed the sound and saw Mo Hua standing at the door with his head held high and his chest puffed out, carrying a storage bag. He couldn't help but laugh and said, "It's you again. How come your brother has finished drawing all the formations?"

Mo Hua nodded and said, "Yes."

The steward became more energetic, "Oh? It's only been five days, it's quite fast," and then waved to Mo Hua, "Bring it here for me to see."

Mo Hua took out the formation from the storage bag and put it on the counter on tiptoe.

The steward picked up the formation, looked at it, and frowned.

Mo Hua was a little nervous, "Is it not drawn correctly?"

The steward pondered for a moment and said, "It is correct, but this level does not seem to be that of an experienced hand. Some of them are okay, but these few..."

The steward flipped out a few of them, and Mo Hua took a look. They were the ones he drew at the beginning.

"These few are quite bad, the brushwork is very clumsy, intermittent, as if they were put together bit by bit. Are you sure your brother is learning the formation from the formation master? This level is quite bad..."

Mo Hua was a little embarrassed. It was his first time to paint, and he had done his best to paint like this.

"Then can this formation be used?"

The manager pointed his finger at the table, looked at it carefully and said:

"Although the brushwork is a bit poor, there is no problem with the formation itself. It can be used... it's just that the brushwork is a bit poor."

Mo Hua breathed a sigh of relief, "That's good." Then he said: "Maybe my brother is drawing this formation for the first time and is not familiar with it, so he is a little rusty at the beginning. Don't you see that the last few are much better?"

The manager looked at the last few formations and nodded slowly, "That's true, the last few are indeed better, at least they are in the standard."

"Right," Mo Hua assured: "Don't worry, my... brother will definitely get better and better in the future!"

The manager was amused by Mo Hua, "You have confidence in your brother. Okay, for your sake, this order will be accepted, but the formation next time must at least reach the level of the last few, and you are not allowed to use those practice formations to make up the number."

Mo Hua nodded repeatedly.

The steward collected the formation diagram and counted a few spirit stones and placed them on the table.

"Eight sets are successful, two sets are unsuccessful, and a deposit of two spirit stones will be deducted, and the reward is six spirit stones."

"If your brother wants to continue painting, the deposit is still ten. Your brother already has the formation diagram of the bright fire formation. I will give him ten more paper and ink materials."

The steward gave the storage bag with paper and ink to Mo Hua.

Mo Hua collected the paper and ink materials, picked up six more spirit stones, and couldn't help but feel happy.

Earning six spirit stones in five days is about the same as the income of an average cultivator in the middle and late stages of Qi training.

Mo Hua's mother Liu Ruhua helps in the kitchen in the dining hall, and earns only one spirit stone a day. His father Mo Shan's income from hunting monsters is higher, but it is not stable. Sometimes he can earn more, and if he doesn't hunt valuable monsters, the income will be even lower.

Mo Hua thanked the steward and left Youyuanzhai. The three friends at the door looked at him eagerly.

Mo Hua patted the storage bag and waved her hand, "Let's go, I'll treat you to some snacks!"

Da Hu and the other two all shouted "Wow" happily, and surrounded Mo Hua to the pastry shop on the street.

There are many pastry shops in Tongxian City. The expensive pastries are made of expensive ingredients, so Mo Hua and his friends naturally can't afford them. They found a pastry shop called "Wang's Pastry" on the street. It is also a shop opened by ordinary cultivators in the Qi Refining Period. The shop is relatively simple. Although the ingredients are not expensive, they are very affordable.

During festivals, ordinary cultivators often buy them to satisfy their children's cravings.

Wang's pastry is famous for its five-color cake, which is made by steaming a mixture of five different colors of spiritual grains in the cultivation world. It is sweet and soft, and a piece of five-color cake only costs two broken spiritual stones.

The income of the bottom-level casual cultivators is too low. Many cultivators may earn less than one spiritual stone every day, so they can only cut the spiritual stones into pieces. One spiritual stone is divided into ten parts, and ten broken spiritual stones are equivalent to one spiritual stone.

Broken Spiritual Stones are not recognized by the Dao Court and the clans and families. They are only circulated among the lower-level cultivators, and only the poor cultivators in the Qi Refining Stage will use such broken spiritual stones.

Mo Hua spent two spiritual stones and bought ten pieces of colorful cakes. The cakes were given by the store owner because Mo Hua bought a lot and was a child, so he gave her two more pieces.

Mo Hua took two pieces each, and the remaining four pieces were prepared to be kept for his parents to eat at home.

Mo Hua and the other four held a piece of fragrant, sweet and steaming cake in each hand, eating while walking. Xiao Hu was so hot that he couldn't close his mouth, but he kept talking:

"This cake is really delicious. When I earn spiritual stones in the future, I will eat it every day!"

Shuanghu said: "Then you might as well marry a woman who can make cakes as your Taoist partner, so that you can eat it every day."

Xiaohu suddenly realized: "Yes, yes, why didn't I think of it!" Then he was entangled again, "But I already have someone I like, and people can't be fickle..."

Shuanghu widened his eyes, "Who do you like?"

Xiaohu said: "The little girl selling tofu on the west side of the street, I said I like it first, you are not allowed to snatch it from me!"

Shuanghu snorted and waved his hand, saying: "Don't worry, she has a bad temper, I won't snatch it from you..."

Shuanghu and Xiaohu chatted, while Dahu concentrated on eating cakes. He finished both cakes in no time and licked his fingers after eating.

Mohua gave him the one he didn't eat.

Dahu smiled embarrassedly, but couldn't help taking the cake and eating it.

Shuanghu suddenly said, "Mohua, did you really draw the formation for that Zhai?"

Mohua nodded.

Xiaohu opened his mouth wide, "You can actually draw formations for others?"

Shuanghu rolled his eyes at him and said, "Where do you think the spirit stones for eating cakes come from?"

Xiaohu was stunned holding the cake, "This cake turned out to be bought with the spirit stones you used to draw the formation. It's incredible, Mohua, you won't really be a first-class formation master in the future!"

Mohua said, "It's too early to say this now. It's not that simple to be a formation master. Only we know about this. Don't tell anyone else. I'll treat you to cakes when I earn more spirit stones."

When the three heard the word cake, they nodded quickly. Xiaohu even promised, "If I tell anyone, I won't have any snacks for the rest of my life!"

Mohua and his friends strolled around the street again, looked at some strange and novel things, and went back home as it got darker.

Mo Hua gave the snacks to Liu Ruhua, who steamed them in a pot and put them in Mo Hua's bowl. Mo Hua firmly disagreed, and after some excuses, Mo Hua ate two in the end. Mo Shan and Liu Ruhua each tried one.

The cakes steamed by Liu Ruhua were hot and fragrant. Mo Hua ate them and felt that they were even more delicious than what he had eaten at noon. He couldn't help asking, "Mom, can you steam cakes?"

Liu Ruhua smiled and said, "What's so difficult about this? I can make any complicated dish. It's just that many dishes require stoves specially made by weapon refiners and special formations. We don't have the conditions to make them at home."

"Is the stove expensive?"

"The stove needs to be forged by a weapon refiner, so it's naturally not cheap, but the formation is even more expensive. It's not easy to ask a formation master to draw a formation, not to mention a big item like a stove. So unless you want to open a restaurant, no one will spend a lot of money to buy a stove..."

Mo Hua nodded. It seems that the application of formations in the cultivation world is more extensive than he thought. I don't know what kind of formation is used on the stove.

Mo Hua silently took note and prepared to learn it later when he has time.