``` But Mo Hua became too adept at the Fireball Technique. After trying multiple times, his mysterious spiritual consciousness became gradually stable, spiritual power flowed, and the spell formed into a complete skill pattern... Time passed, and a spark of inspiration flashed in Mo Hua's mind, his eyes brightened, and he stretched out both hands. On his left hand, there was a Fireball Technique. On his right hand, he also condensed a Fireball Technique. Dual casting with mystical consciousness, deploying both spells at once! Mo Hua was overjoyed. Then he realized a problem, with dual casting, the power should be even greater, and it seemed he didn't need to study a more complicated Fireball Technique... Mo Hua decided to give it a try. He stretched out both hands, and two fireballs instantly flew out, tracing two arcs of flame, hitting the spell puppet. Two scorch marks appeared on the puppet, which then recovered as before. Mo Hua shook his head. "Not quite right..." With a divided consciousness, deploying two Fireball Techniques at the same time, the power of each had diminished... One reason was that his technique was still not skilled enough; Another reason would be that his spiritual power was not abundant, the amount of spiritual power in his meridians was insufficient to support casting two Fireball Techniques at the same time without a decline in power... All things considered, it would be better to deploy the fireballs in succession, one after the other. His casting was fast, and the interval between the two Fireball Techniques was very short, and their power would not diminish. Unless... Mo Hua pondered. Unless there was a need for a spell "barrage," to rapidly release a large quantity of Fireball Techniques within a short period. In that case, dual casting would be highly effective. However, such an action would cause spiritual consciousness and spiritual power to pour out like a flood. His spiritual consciousness could handle it, but his spiritual power definitely could not sustain it. This was not a method he could use at present... Mo Hua felt a bit of regret. Dual casting wasn't effective in terms of power, so he still needed to research spell fusion... Mo Hua nodded to himself, then his pupils darkened, he once again divided his consciousness, and with dual casting, condensed a fireball in each hand. Mo Hua furrowed his brows, somewhat strained, as he slowly brought his hands together, trying to fuse the two Fireball Techniques... But the two Fireball Techniques, like poles of the same magnet, repelled each other. The closer they got, the stronger the repulsive force. Soon, Mo Hua could no longer maintain it, the spells dissipated, and the fireballs extinguished. Mo Hua gasped for air, sighing in his mind: "It seems it still doesn't work..." "The Fireballs repel each other; they cannot fuse together..." "Why is that?" Mo Hua pondered for a while, then took out his "The Essentials of the Tai Xu Arts" from his storage bag, searching for an answer within some of the documented magical theories. After the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, Mo Hua flipped to the "Skill Pattern Structure" page and recalled the knowledge taught in the Elder's class before having an epiphany. Inside each spell, there is a certain skill pattern structure. This structure is stable, standardized, created by the summation work of generations of cultivators, and is a "paradigm" that determines the essence of the spell. The skill pattern structure is also the structure of the spiritual power, containing the circulation and change of the spell's spiritual power. Similarly, different spells have their skill pattern structures that naturally repel each other. Thus, when spiritual cultivators battle with spells, victories in spell confrontations are decided by their respective skill pattern structures. In confrontations, a top-grade spell, with a stable skill pattern structure, powerful spiritual power, will crush a low-grade spell, causing the latter's spell to collapse and spiritual power to disseminate, leading to defeat. If the power of the two opposing spells is close, neither can overcome the other, and due to the repelling skill pattern structures, both will disintegrate simultaneously, creating a spiritual power explosion... Mo Hua nodded, but then he paused, perplexed. "Spells colliding, disintegrating at the same time, creating a spiritual power explosion..." "But when my two Fireball Techniques were squeezed together, there was no explosion..." "Why?" Mo Hua grew more bewildered as he thought, and couldn't help but exclaim: Formations are profound and complex, and spells are not simple either. Once you delve into learning them, you realize that there is too much complicated and esoteric knowledge... Mo Hua could only consider from his own perspective. His two Fireball Techniques, even though they had divided wily minds, were from the same root and the same source. In essence, they were from the same divine sense, the same kind of spiritual power, the same skill pattern structure, deployed at the same time. It was like a "replica," where both were shadows of each other. Therefore, the two spells, being of similar origins, were naturally compatible. But since they were different spells, they had, though the same in form, their independently structured skill patterns. And skill pattern structures are bound to repel each other. ``` ``` Therefore, these two fireballs, originating from a similar source, were able to approach each other, yet due to their independent skill patterns, they repelled one another... They were contradictory to each other, with spiritual power entangling endlessly. Mo Hua's head started to ache a bit. Since they shared the same origin, it meant that "fusion" was possible... But their skill patterns were unique and repelled each other, which obviously made "fusion" impossible... Mo Hua was somewhat puzzled, yet not discouraged. Over the next few days, he thought of many ways to try to execute this double-casting, attempting to "fuse" the two fireball techniques that shared the same roots. For instance, using his Divine Sense, he pressed the fireballs bit by bit, forcing them to merge; Or, in a "spiral" form, he made the two fireballs rotate around each other, seeking a mutual fit... But no matter what he tried, he couldn't succeed. Mo Hua furrowed his brows, reflecting: "Could it be... too gentle...?" These methods of pressing, spiraling, and fitting for the spell "fusion" were all done with great care, but the two fireballs were "mischievous" and completely disobedient. Should he be more "forceful"? But how? Mo Hua recalled the scenes of spells clashing that he had seen so far, when he suddenly had a flash of inspiration and muttered to himself: "Collision?" "The two fireballs, colliding against each other?" His Divine Sense was strong enough to forcibly propel the two fireballs to collide quickly, and perhaps, this could combine the two? Could relying on the powerful Divine Sense create a miracle? Mo Hua was a bit hesitant, but after some thought, since there seemed to be no other options, he decided to give it a try. Anyway, in the Dao Room, there were Elders guarding, and they were just two little fireballs, so there shouldn't be any issues... Mo Hua nodded to himself. Then he began to repeat his previous technique, his pupils black as night, his wily minds diverging, his left and right hands each condensing a fireball technique. This time, Mo Hua didn't try little by little but instead focused intensely, and in a split second, he pushed his Sixteen Patterns Quality Changed Divine Sense to the extreme, applying an instantaneous strong pressure... And then the spells transformed abruptly! The ultimate Divine Sense suddenly generated a tremendous pressure, causing the fireballs to tremble violently. Subsequently, the two fireballs moved from static to dynamic in an instant, drawing two blinding trails of fire, and with great speed, they hurtled towards each other, creating a collision that could collapse their skill patterns... This all happened in an instant. A moment later, Mo Hua felt dizzy and his ears rang, and his eyes were blinded by the bright firelight... All he felt was a muffled explosion. And then all the sounds seemed to be drawn in, swallowed up, into absolute silence... The only trace of clarity in his Divine Sense made Mo Hua realize... His spiritual power had completely spiraled out of control... Out of nowhere, the Fireball Technique had birthed a rampaging spiritual power, like an unruly dragon roaring and bellowing, fighting to break free from his control, to devour everything... Mo Hua exhausted the last bit of his Divine Sense to place a "rein" on this surge of spiritual power, pulling it forward to blast out... After which, his eyes closed, and he slowly collapsed to the ground, falling into unconsciousness. ... The Elder of Daoist Law, who was playing chess outside, suddenly felt a violent palpitation. He looked down and saw on the central Jade Slip of the Dao Room, a red alarm flashing so brightly it hurt his eyes. At the same time, a wave of spiritual power that was odd and twisted, though at the Foundation Establishment Stage, emanated with a hint of terrifying force. The Elder of Daoist Law's heart trembled, and in a flash, he hurried to the Dao Room on his right. From the outside, the Dao Room appeared undamaged. The Elder of Daoist Law's right hand trembled slightly as he opened the door... What he saw was devastation, with cracks everywhere. There was a ferocious scorch mark on the floor, spreading into the distance, the overwhelming spiritual power pressing against the walls, shaking the protective Third Grade Formation to reveal itself. The Formation was intact, but the wall's surface had melted, exposing the Formation Patterns. It looked as though the surroundings were blasted with mottled cracks. At the start of the scorch mark lay a small Cultivator. He lay unconscious on the ground, his left hand charred, his right hand cracked, with blood at the corners of his mouth. At the end of the scorch mark was a spell puppet. Or rather, where there should have been a spell puppet. But now, the spell puppet used for testing spell strength, of the Foundation Establishment Initial Stage, had been blasted so thoroughly that not even scraps remained... The Elder of Daoist Law's mouth gaped open, involuntarily gasping a breath of cold air... "What the hell is this..." "Fireball Technique?!" ```