Chapter 1239: Chapter 725 Breakthrough "Oh oh," Mo Hua nodded. Cheng Mo looked around and then asked Mo Hua and Situ Jian, "Are you guys still watching?" Situ Jian looked at Mo Hua. After a moment of contemplation, Mo Hua shook his head, "Let’s go back first. Watching alchemy isn’t very interesting. We can come back and see more if there’s time later." "Alright!" Cheng Mo and Situ Jian nodded in agreement. Then the three of them made their way home, leaving Mount of Tao and returning to their Sect. Back at the Sect, Mo Hua resumed his usual cultivation routine, breaking through bottlenecks, practicing formation painting, and refining armor. When he had the time, he still went to the Mount of Tao to watch the Daoist Conference. The Daoist Conference was after all the grand event in Qian Learning State Boundary that only occurred once every three years. Though he was not participating, it was still necessary to have some understanding. Furthermore, just because he wasn’t participating now didn’t mean he wouldn’t be in the future. Mo Hua calculated that in six years, if his cultivation advanced to the Foundation Establishment Late Stage, perhaps he, too, would compete and measure himself against the talents of ten thousand Sects. However, such an event was too high-profile and did not suit his own low-key and humble temperament. "Tall trees catch much wind." "The protruding nail gets hammered down first." These were all earnest teachings from his master. Hence, whether or not to participate in the Daoist Conference in the future was something Mo Hua still struggled with. Nonetheless, that was still an issue for six years in the future and not something he needed to rush to think about. He decided to observe the situation first before deciding. The Daoist Conference continued as scheduled. Mo Hua would go to have a look whenever he had the opportunity. The agenda of this Daoist Conference started with debating pills, followed by artifact forging, then discussing runes, continuing with array crafting, and finally concluding with debating swordsmanship. There was nothing interesting about debating pills. It was just a bunch of people working on their furnaces, discussing the techniques, control of heat and skills of Alchemy, and in the end, they were judged based on factors such as the time it took to form the pills, success rates, and quality. Mo Hua didn’t care much about it. As for who achieved the title of leader, Mo Hua didn’t recognize them. He only knew it was a senior sister from the "Danqing Sect" who was two classes above him. Danqing Sect, as one of the Twelve Sects in Qian Learning State Boundary, has most of its disciples dedicating their lives to Alchemy. Practicing Alchemy to aid the world and heal the injured. Mo Hua unexpectedly thought of First-Grade Pill Master Old Mr. Feng from Tongxian City. Having a strong Divine Sense but a weak constitution since childhood, it was thanks to Old Mr. Feng’s treatment and care that he was able to grow up safely. The atmosphere of Danqing Sect gave Mo Hua a feeling somewhat similar to that of Old Mr. Feng. Mo Hua felt a sudden surge of fondness in his heart. Next came the debating artifacts conference. Mo Hua paid more attention to this. Even though, in reality, his Artifact Refining skills were not as good as his Alchemy skills, he still had some knowledge. Especially in recent times, he had exchanged many insights on Artifact Refining with Third-Grade Golden Core Artifact Refiner Master Gu. Mo Hua also took the lead in designing the Refinement Array Map and customizing a large batch of Spiritual Artifacts, spending much time in research to ensure that the form of Spiritual Artifacts matched the structure of the formations. So although his actual level of Artifact Refining was still unmentionable—he couldn’t swing a Second Grade hammer—his perspective and scope in Artifact Refining significantly improved. This is something that ordinary Artifact Refiners, especially those disciples who meticulously follow the inherited system and standard Artifact Refining guidelines, do not possess. Now, as Mo Hua watched others forge artifacts, by observing and summarising their techniques and improving his own design ideas for the Refinement Array Map, he also benefited greatly. A few days later, the debating artifact conference also came to an end. However, the winner of the debating artifact conference was somewhat unexpected to Mo Hua. He did not belong to the Twelve Streams or Sects known for specializing in Artifact Refining within the Qian Learning Hundred Gates, but came from one of the Eight Great Gates, the Tai’a Sect, which has some connections with the Taixu Gate. "Tai’a Sect..." Mo Hua paused for a moment. He remembered that Senior Brother Feng, Ouyang Feng, with whom he had a friendship, also came from Tai’a Sect. However, the winner of the debating artifacts conference should be one class above Senior Brother Feng, presumably Senior Brother Feng’s own Senior Brother. The Artifact Refining Method that won him the first place was a Swordsmanship spell point. "Tai’a Sect, the Spell for forging swords..." Mo Hua stroked his chin, lost in thought. Then came the rune competition. Mo Hua had the least exposure to Runes. Simply put, Refining Rune means consuming Spiritual Power to condense Spells and sealing those Spells into Jade Talismans that have been prepared in advance. In this way, when using it, one can directly activate the Spells. Runes indeed have certain thresholds related to the Cultivation Realm, but they generally do not require much additional expenditure of Spiritual Power by the user. It can be seen as a convenient supplementary method of attack. Refining Rune itself is also a category that combines the industries of Tao Cultivation. The Jade Talismans used in Refining Rune can store Spells and inherently rely on Artifact Refining and Formation crafting. And for a Rune Refining Master, the most important thing is Spiritual Power. Outstanding Rune Refining Masters all have abundant Spiritual Power and are proficient in Spells, particularly rare or Superior Skills. This aspect was naturally incompatible with Mo Hua. Although Mo Hua is a Spiritual Cultivator, he has inferior Spiritual Roots and weak Spiritual Power. He is proficient in Spells, but he follows the approach where "All Techniques are Mastered," mastering common low-grade spells. Moreover, the base material for Jade Talismans is quite expensive. Mo Hua was too frugal to buy them. He felt pained even when purchasing Formation media and Spiritual Ink. For these reasons, of all the Tao Cultivation categories, Mo Hua’s Rune Refining was the weakest. Even though he scored Grade A with six Grade Cs. But among these "Grade Cs," his Rune Refining was the weakest, barely avoiding falling into "Grade D." Therefore, during the Rune Competition, Mo Hua only glanced over it briefly. As for who became the leader in the end, he didn’t even look.